


The Court of Hearts

by Hana_H



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cardverse, Coming of Age, Denmark & Faroe & Greenland, Falling In Love, Faroe being friends with everyone, Faroe ships Dennor, Fluff, Friendship, Iceland & Greenland & Faroe, Jokers too, Kings & Queens & Jacks, M/M, Not canon courts, Poland is one fabulous mf, The Dennor will come eventually just you wait, War, also on Wattpad, ships other than Dennor really minor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22882195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hana_H/pseuds/Hana_H
Summary: Shall we play a game of cards?Rich Diamonds. Lucky Clubs. Mighty Spades. Beautiful Hearts.These are the Four kingdoms ruling over the world. Each of them has a King, each King has a Queen, and they have a Jack, serving them whenever they may go. These three are called a Court and they're the ones ruling over a kingdom. That's the only way to achieve balance. But balance... doesen't necesserily mean peace, now, does it?<3When a young boy named Andrias (Faroe) is found and claimed as the Jack of Hearts, he has no idea what destiny has in stock for him. It's time for a new Court to rise, but how can it, when a member of it is missing still? How long can King Mathias and Jack Andrias carry on without the Queen? Andrias decides he doesen't want to find out, and with the help of a lowly guard, cunning Joker and a broken inside Ace, sets on a journey.<3The Courts are not the same as in the 'canon' Cardverse, includes a few ocs, and the ships are Dennor (main), and minor Sufin, Lietpol and UsUk. Iceland is a cutie.
Relationships: Denmark/Norway (Hetalia), Lietpol - Relationship, and Usuk, but really minor - Relationship, some minor Sufin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	1. The Jack - 1/2

**Author's Note:**

> I love Cardverse and Nordics, but it is a shame these two didn’t seem to coexist. Well, I made them! Hope you enjoy!

It is a nice, sunny day. Two children are sitting in the Royal garden, their backs against the cool wall, letting the sun warm their faces. Early spring, the garden in full bloom. 

“Krissie?” the boy asks. “Do you think I’ll be a good King?” The other opens her eyes, as blue as the sky, and replies. “If you’re compassionate and selfless to your people, I don’t see why not.” 

“Really?” the boy bounces. 

“Really. That’s all there is,” she shrugs. “Here,” she starts collecting the dandelions growing here despite the gardeners’ effort to kill them. She makes a dandelion crown, the boy bows his head, and she asks him “Prince Mathias, do you promise to be fair, to take care of all your people, to put the kingdom’s needs above your own?” 

“I do,” the boy says determinedly. 

“Then I hereby crown you the King of Hearts!” the girl wearing the red hood exclaims as she places the crown upon his head, and smiles the proudest of smiles. The boy can’t see it, though, as he’s adjusting the crown, head still bowed, the sun shining on his face and warming him. 

Years later, as the real crown is being placed upon his head, both the warmth and the girl are missing. 

<3

The beautifully decorated room was overridden by chaos as people backed away from where the- the  thing , the  monster ! sat on the floor, hands raised in a vain try to protect himself against the sword, which was coming closer... closer... 

Amongst the crowd of people, a teenage boy struggled against his captor’s hold as he yelled one single name before there was a hand covering his mouth. 

“Krist-lmmmfwhmm!” 

Focus on that boy. 

Hi, my name is Andrias and you’re probably wondering how did I get into this mess. Well, that’s a long story. Take a seat and open your mind. 

<3

Shall we play a game of cards?

Rich Diamonds. Lucky Clubs. Mighty Spades. Beautiful Hearts. 

These are the Four kingdoms ruling over the world. Each of them has a King, each King has a Queen, and they have a Jack, serving them whenever they may go. These three are called a Court and they’re the ones ruling over a kingdom. That’s the only way to achieve balance. But balance... doesen’t necesserily mean peace, now, does it?

<3

“ANDRIAS!! MOVE YOUR LAZY ARSE AND GET OVER HERE!!!” 

The ten-year-old sighed at the sound of his mother’s voice. She doesen’t yell at his precious  siblings like this, it’s only him who’s treated almost like a slave in this household. He didn’t want to move from his spot, observing the ever-moving ocean, waves crashing onto a beach below him. He likes it. He likes to imagine the lands far away, the lands of the Four kingdoms, the ones he’s only heard about in fairytales and old stories. The vast forests of Clubs, golden fields of Diamonds, crystal clear lakes of Spades and colourful gardens of Hearts. Here, on this archipelago, was none of that. Only dangerous cliffs, bright green grass, waterfalls on another island the head of the family took them for a very short vacation once, and wild ocean beneath. The scenery was nice, but Andrias was bored out of his mind. He’s already seen everything on these islands, and he liked it, but he wanted to see what’s beyond. What’s out there. What more does the world have to offer other than this small fishing village. 

“DO YOU HEAR ME?!?!!” his mother’s voice demanded, putting an end to his daydreaming, and he sighed as he got up. His back was itching, as it had been for a few days now. He couldn’t exactly look at it himself, but he doubt it was a serious skin disease. His mother wouldn’t find it serious, anyway, she would only take it as his whining.  Oh well. It’ll go away eventually, I’m sure , he thought, scratching the spot. Then he ran down, down, where the village was located. He ran past the barrels filled with fish, past the children playing tag, to his family’s cottage, took a deep breath and stepped inside. Instantly, he knew just why his dear momma called. The youngest child, of barely two years, vomited. 

“WELL, FINALLY!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?”

The ten-year-old shrugged wordlessly as he took a mop and a rag, only to have it hastily torn out of his hands by the woman, who nudged him towards the bowl of soup on the stove with the instructions of “You stir it a bit.”

Hi, my name is Andrias and I’m going to tell you about the day my life turned upside down, and what happened next.

A bit of exposition: the previous King of Hearts waged many conquering wars, claiming a lot of new territory -including my homeland archipelago- as his own. However, it turned against him, as he was killed on a conquest two years ago. The throne was claimed by his son, Prince Mathias, who got the Mark on the very same day his father took his last breath. Oh, right. The Marks.

You see, the members of a Court of a kingdom aren’t all always from the upper class. In fact, that is a very rare case. No, the members of a Court are picked by whatever natural force you want to call it - gods, fate, universe- which gives them their Marks - of a Jack, a Queen, and a King. When a member of a Court dies, his Mark appears on a body of another citizen of the kingdom, and an official search for the new person begins. It can be literally anyone - a high-class duke as well as a poor, homeless person, as long as they’re citizens of the kingdom, and mostly, the members of a Court come from all of the social classes, so they know what’s it like to live in it, and can be compassionate to their subjects. Well, mostly. It wasn’t exactly the case of the previous King. “Oh, but how do they recognize the Marks?” you ask. “There must be many fakes trying to fool the kingdom and get into the upper class, aren’t there?” Yes, of course there are. But, I didn’t know the answer to that question just yet. The members of a new Court just  know when they meet one another, I guessed. 

You’ll see by ourselves.

So, I was stirring the soup when my older ‘brother’ came running in, and yelled for us to go look outside. Something apparently big was happening. 

Outside, the entire village was gathering in the bay. A ship was on the horizon, and it was not a small one. Nope, this one was the biggest ship all of us simple folk have ever seen. Yep, this was  definitely something big. 

The boy watched along with the rest of the fairly small village, small enough for everyone to know each other ,  as the ship came closer, as close as it could, then as a smaller boat was put on the water, and a few people in it, few people dressed in official Hearts’ uniforms.  What are they here for? Taxes?  the boy tried to guess as he observed the smaller boat, rocking on the waves. 

When the boat came to the port -a fancy word for the place the village mens’ boats were tied up during the day- a person stepped out of it and let himself be judged by the village folk. Andrias marveled over him, because - it was a boy barely older than him! Clad in official Hearts’ uniform, but so young, it was clear he was here just because nobody else wanted to bother with a tiny village, but there had to be someone there to deliver the message, just in case. His face was a darker shade than the village folk’s, and Andrias could hear the whispers of distrust. Even so, the crowd silenced down when he raised an arm and opened his mouth.

“People of the Hearts’ kingdom!” he exclaimed loud enough for even the ones in the back would hear him. “Listen to me, as I have a  very important matter to talk about! Listen carefully!” Well  now he had everyone hooked. What could the mighty want from a small, unimportant fishing village?

“As you all know, King Ragnar, who claimed many territories for the kingdom, including your village, passed away two years ago.”  Yeah, we know that much , Andrias thought.  What’s the point? 

“Soon after, our beloved Queen, Dagmar, joined him.”  Yeah, I think I remember hearing about that, too. “Their son came to be our new King, and a King desperately needs his court.”  Oh?  “The search for the new Queen continues. But I’m here because of the new search, a search for the Jack.”

There we go. Those words changed the course of my life forever. 

“The old Jack passed away a few days ago, peacefully, in his sleep. So, one of you, citizens of the Hearts’ kingdom, ought to have a Jack’s Mark.” 

That had the crowd perk up and whisper fervently. 

“What I’m asking of you is - do not hide it! If one of you discovers the Mark, be it of a Queen or a Jack, do not hesitate to inform us! You’ll be taken to the Capital and you’ll be taken care of! You are citizens of the Hears’ kingdom, after all.”

He went on the ramble more, but Andrias couldn’t focus on more. A very weird feeling overcame him - what that feeling was, he himself didn’t know. Partially excitement, partially fear, and partially - happiness?! Why did he feel so lighthearted and joyous? 

That was, until his ‘brother’ hit him in the back and hissed “Good you’re not the Jack, since you can’t do anything right, huh, you useless bastard?” Andrias raised an eyebrow and hissed back “Good  you’re not the Jack, since even the fish you’re catching every day are  way  smarter than you, huh, you stupid ass?” 

The first punch he expected, and dodged successfully. When the other ‘brother’ joined, that’s when his cheek became bruised and his knees scratched as one of them held him down while the other kicked him. The people around them formed a circle and watched curiously, not making any moves to do anything about the two older, physically stronger brothers beating the crap out of their younger and therefore logically weaker ‘sibling’. 

“What’s this?! Break this up!” Andrias heard a voice call authoritatively as his head was pressed to the dirty ground and all he could see were people’s shoes. Suddenly, a pair of nice, expensive shoes in the Hearts’ national colours (various shades of red and pink) came into his view, right as he felt his shirt -he took his sweater off as soon as he entered into the cottage, and didn’t have the time to put it on again- give way and expose his back, and sighed appreciatively when he felt cold air on the itchy spot that’s been annoying him for days now. 

And then there was silence. 

Some people gasped, some merely stared, open-mother and wide-eyed. The beating stopped, and Andrias was released from the hold of his bullies.  What the hell-?!

Slowly, he stood up and looked into the eyes of the Hearts’ messenger boy. They were dark, darker than any eyes he’s seen before, but sincere and- dare he say hopeful?

Then he spoke. “For how long do you have the Mark?”

Andrias was taken aback. “Huh? What mark???” The messenger tilted his head. 

“The Mark on your back.”

“There’s a mark on my back?” Andrias tried to look at it, but couldn’t position himself correctly to actually  see anything there. 

“Have you not noticed...?”

“No? I haven’t? ...I mean, it was itching me for a few days now, but I didn’t really notice anything weird...”

The messenger shook his head with a smile on his lips. Andrias was confusion itself right now. A mark? On  him , of all people? What kind of a ma-  hold up. HOOOOLD UP. No. No way! I can’t- I can’t be a-

“What’s your name?” 

“I, uh, I’m Andri-Andrias.”

The messenger boy knelt down and bowed his head. “Your Highness, Jack Andrias of Hearts. Please let me escort you to the capital, where you will begin a training to become a proper Jack and one of the three members of the Court of Hearts.”

Andrias felt like he was dreaming, and pinched himself just to find out he was not. He stood there in front of the kneeling messenger, having absolutely no idea what to do, various thoughts and doubts crossing his mind. They... they  wanted him?

Finally, after a tense moment, he replied with an unsure “...um, okay?” The boy stood back up and smiled at him. Smiled like he was a dear friend, like he wasn’t completely useless. It was a while since Andrias saw  that smile. 

“That’s bullshit!” someone from the crowd yelled, and the boy dropped the warm expression and frowned darkly. Andrias gulped. 

“Yeah! That’s a mistake! It can’t be him!”

“Useless Andrias as the Jack?! Lord help us all!”

“Bullshit!”

“That dipshit can’t be the Jack!”

Andrias unconciously stepped closer to the messenger boy and slouched.  Stop with that! Stop! St-

“-op! Be silent! I order SILENCE!” the boy roars. And even Andrias’ ‘brothers’ are quiet for once. 

“This boy is to be taken to the palace. There  is a very slight chance he’s pretending, but from what I’ve seen and heard, I’m confident this isn’t the case. So pay your new Jack a little  respect , would you?!” his voice drops dangerously low. “I’m sure you wouldn’t want your precious little village  burned down to the ground ...”

Everyone is staring at him, speechless. 

“You can’t do that!” Andrias shrieks. The boy looks at him curiously. “Sure I can. But I won’t.” Then he smiles again. “Go pack your belongings. We’re leaving.”

Andrias had never ran so fast in his life before. He quickly put on his favourite gray sweater, not paying any mind to how worn out and dirty it was, and then stopped. There wasn’t much he could truly call his own in the cottage, and he had to choose wisely. Will he ever return here? He didn’t know, and didn’t want to think about it. But just in case be won’t, he needed to pack everything he wants, sp he doesen’t have regrets about it it he future. Oh, the future. How quickly things change. 

He went across the room, caressing the old broom, scratching the table slightly, as he always done when he was bored, knocking on the wall. Trying to remember everything he had lived through within these walls, sitting by this table, cleaning with this broom. He stepped to a small, crooked shelf, and looked at the few books it held. Old, crumpled from reading many times. He carefully took them all down, one by one, and held them to his chest. Now this is something he’s definitely taking with him. 

“Don’t even  think about taking any of my money! ”  a gruff voice says behind him. Andrias frowns, then smiles as he rememberes he won’t have to hear this voice or do as it says ever again. He lifts his head and looks directly at his stepfather. Heh. Why would Andrias even need it? He doesen’t break the eye contact as he steps closer and closer, until he’s standing right in front of the man, who’s blocking the door with his sturdy frame.

“Move,” Andrias says. The man blinks, surprised, then frowns, but complies. “And goodbye.” 

<3

“Woah, this ship is big!” Andrias exclaimed as he looked around the deck. The messenger boy chuckled. “It’s really not. We have way bigger ones.” 

“You do?!”

“Sure. Ameripan here,” he stomped on the wooden floor lightly, “is a pretty humble one. We have way bigger ones. Spamano, AusHun, PruCan... The biggest is called GerIta.”

“Such weird names,” Andrias pointed out. The messenger shrugged with a ‘I know right!?” expression. “Hey, I’m not the one naming them.”

Speaking of which... 

“Hej,” Andrias began, turning the messenger’s attention to him. “What’s your name? You know my, so it’s only fair...” he played with the sleeve of his sweater nervously. Was this too bold? The messenger blinked, then smiled. 

“Why, my name is Kuya.”

Andrias extended his hand for Kuya to shake. “It’s nice to meet you!” he said with a half-smile. Kuya seemed slightly surprised, but shook the offered hand nonetheless. “Nice go meet you too, my Jack.”  M-my Jack?! Oh dear. I supposed I should get used to it, though...

“Y-you don’t need to call me that...” Andrias laughed nervously. “Andrias is fine.”

“Another as to the squad, huh?” Kuya mumbled under his breath to himself, not intending on the newly tilted Jack to hear him. Unfortunately, he did.

“E-excuse me? Another ass?” Did he hear right?!

“Not an ass!” Kuya quickly defended. “It’s just that... your name ends on -as, so I kinda, uh,” he struggled for explanation “another to the group?” This time it was Andrias who blinked. “Huh?”

“Sorry, I- you’ll understand when you meet the King.” Right. Meeting the MOTHERFRUKING KING OF THEIR ENTIRE KINGDOM. That was something he was going to do. 

“Actually...we’ll be in the port nearest the capital in about three or four days. Ameripan is a swift ship, good for sailing light, y’know?” Kuya said, then, not waiting for a reply, continued. Kuya patted the other boy’s shoulder in a supporting manner. Andrias gulped. In just a few days he was to meet the King and begin his Jack duties.... what were those even?? He figured he needed to ask Kuya a whole lot more. 

“Woah, time for lunch!” 

But that could wait. 

The lunch was the most delicious lunch Andrias has ever had. Simple fish and bread, but cooked just right, and with seasonings. Upon seeing the stars in the new Jack’s eyes as he munched, Kuya couldn’t help but to laugh. “You sure eat a lot, huh?” 

Andrias stopped munching, taken aback. “Am I... not supposed to?” 

“Oh no! Oh no no no, of course you need to eat! I just found funny how you think this is delicious when this is just a servant’s share. You, as a Court member, will eat delicacies by the most renowned cooks.”

“O-oh,” the other boy gazed at the floor in embarrasment, but resumed eating. Afterwards, Kuya asked something to get Andrias’ mind off the topic of being a Jack. 

“So... that was your village, huh? Were you born there?” Andrias nodded and gulped down the bread. 

“Uh-huh.”

“I see. What about your family? Who were those two guys who beat you?” he continued, a spark of anger flashing in his eyes. Andrias knew it wasn’t directed at him, and he marveled over that.  Someone protected me , he realised.  It feels... pretty good. Really good.  Again, this was something he had to get used to with time. He wondered if he had made a friend, a first one after long years.

“My dad died three years ago. ”

“I’m sorry,” Kuya patted his hand. Andrias marveled over how this is the first time anyone has had that reaction. His dad was a fisherman, when he drowned, it didn’t really surprise the village people. He wasn’t the first one and he certainly won’t be the last. That sort of thing just happens. 

“My mom remarried to a widower who already had two older sons, and together they had three more kids.” 

“Those were the bastards beating you?!” 

“Yup.”

“And your parents- or, well, mom and stepfather- do nothing about it?!”

“Uh-huh. Apparently it’s  my own fault that I let them. That’s what they said the first time, when I told on them.” 

“BULLSHIT!” Now Kuya was actually angry, and it both pleased and confused Andrias greatly. “How are you supposed to fight two older and stronger guys by yourself?!”

“I dunno,” Andrias slipped to the village slang. His accent was ever present, but he tried his best for Kuya to understand him. After all, Kuya did have the slightest hint of an accent of his own, under all that polished talk. But that, with the previous King claiming many new teritorries, wasn’t anything surprising. Andrias wondered which part of the kingdom Kuya is from. 

“Did you have nobody there who would care?!” Andrias pondered the question for a while before replying “Not really, no. I was kinda the outcast, especially since dad’s death. As soon as mom had other kids, she stopped caring about me. It’s natural, I guess. She had to care for the babies now, she had no time for me, who could wipe his ass himself,” he spat bitterly. Never before had he said this, but it felt so good to have it out of his system.

“Oh shit,” Kuya mumbled and  yep, he definitely has accent.  “That sucks,” he breathed out, moving his hand to pat Andrias’ shoulder in an attempt to be comforting. 

“So that’s it, I guess.” Kuya

“Wait, if I may ask, how old were you when your father died?” 

“Seven.”

“So that means now you’re...”

“I’m ten.”

“Ah.” A heartbeat of silence. “I’m fourteen.” 

“Huh.“ Another awkward silence wrapped itself around the boys, this time Andrias being the one breaking it.

“Soooo... I’m gonna be a Jack, huh?” 

“Indeed. If your Mark proves to be true.”

“How does it do that?” Kuya shrugged. 

“I’m not sure myself. But don’t worry, I don’t think it hurts in any way.” Yeah, swell. Something to really boost Andrias’ confidence. “R-right...”

“And, uh, what exactly do Jacks do?”

“Ah, well,” the dark-eyed boy frowned in thought. “Let’s see. The Kings are naturally the highest of ranks, as a King has the ultimate word in every matter. Kings make laws, control the trades, wage wars,” Kuya coughed, “and make deals with the other kingdoms. Queens have more of a representative role, they lead various cultural events and control the situation within the kingdom. The Jacks, well, they’re in charge of the royal palace and making schedules for the other two, and organising in general. The simplest way I can put it is: Kings rule the world, Queens rule the kingdom and Jacks rule the palace.”

“O-oh,” Andrias sighed. Organising, huh? Schedule-making? That didn’t sound too bad. 

After that, the two boys went to the deck to watch the ocean.  I’m finally going to see what’s out there! Andrias realised with glee. Suddenly he felt like on the top of the world. His village was being left behind as he couldn’t even see it on the horizon anymore. He looked forward, the ocean gleaming in the sunlight, and promised himself that’s what he’ll do from now on. Don’t look back, only forward.

The day passed in a blink of an eye, as did the next, and the following. Those days were the best of Andrias’ life so far. He spent it with Kuya, with whom he quickly became friends. They talked and talked, each delighted that they got someone to listen to such banal and silly things like what’s their favourite colour -Kuya preferred blue and purple to the Hearts’ red and pink, something he shouldn’t really say out loud but knew Andrias wouldn’t tell on him, since he preferred yellow and greenish blue, the colour of the Northern lights itself- and Andrias found out that Kuya did indeed come from a different teritorry, one even further north than his homeland archipelago, and way colder, too. He said it was snowy the whole year! And apparently, there also lived big carnivore creatures called polar bears. Andrias has heard of bears, but he’s never seen one. Upon asking what’s so special about polar ones Kuya said they’re cooler and wholly white. Kuya seemed to be an expert on polar bears. And seals. Seals Andrias knew, along with the myths surrounding them. Kuya didn’t know these, and Andrias was eager to share. Mythology was  his expertise. 

It was so nice Andrias forgot to ask any questions regarding the kingdom until the very last evening. 

Laying in his makeshift bed, Andrias stared at the ceiling listening to his friend’s breathing. Kuya was laying on the opposite side of the room, though it was a pretty small room, so small Andrias could cross it in six steps. He wondered what will happen to him now. How will the other nobles react? How will the  King react to a small boy, fisherman’s son? He sighed. Will they ever be friends? And what about the Queen? When will they be found? 

“Ssst, Kuya.” The said one makes a sound between a growl and a groan to let Andrias know attention is paid.

“What’s the kingdom life like?”

“I wouldn’t know very well. I belong with the servants and guards.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“How do they treat you?” Kuya rolled over in his bed to look the new Jack in the face. 

“Quite well, actually. Don’t you worry,” he smiles softly. “The King is nothing like his father.”

Oh? That was... good? “He’s been making peace with all the other kingdoms, after the wars. And he’s not one to judge a person based on their background or origin. Trust me, I know,” he reassured. Andrias fidgeted with the hem of his sweater for a while, still nervous. “And don’t worry,” Kuya continued, “you’ll get used to running around the castle, in charge of things.”

“Thanks,” the other whispers, still not looking up from his pillow. “It’s just... nobody  asked me to be a Jack...”

“Oh, I get it,” Kuya slipped into more mundane accent than the polished one of the palace. “But I guess you’ll have to trust the Universe. You’ll have to trust it made the right decision. It’ll be alright, you’ll see,” he gazed into Andrias’ eyes as the latter finally looked at him. They stayed like that for a moment, brown eyes gazing into greenish grey. In Kuya’s eyes Andrias could read a reassuring Don’t worry, I’ll be there for you , with sincerety that gave no choice but to be trusted. And soon after, when Andrias fell asleep, he knew it would be okay. Somehow it would. 

The next day when he woke up, he realised something. The ship wasn’t moving. If it wasn’t moving, that means it’s in port. And that means...

Andrias sat up in his bed and accidentally bumped heads with Kuya. 

“SHIT!” Kuya exclaimed. “This is what I get for trying to wake you up.”

“W-w-where...?” Andrias asked disorientedly, still half-asleep. 

“We have arrived! Your breakfast is here,” he pointed at a plate of fish and bread along with some water on the small table in the middle of the room, “so eat and dress up. I’ll wait outside,” and with that, he left. 

Andrias almost couldn’t swallow the food thanks to his nerves. And so, his new life begins, huh? It was scary, but exciting. He gulped the drink and food down, dressed hastily, took one last glance at the room, and stepped into the light of the new day.

“There’s the carriage!”

“Holy frick-“

The carriage was  big . And very elaborately decorated. And the coachmen even had matching coats! Andrias has never seen anything like it. Then again, there weren’t any carriages back in the village. Eyes wide, he circled the carriage once, twice, three times, drunk on the way the coachmen bowed to him as if the was important. And he recalled, he actually  was now. 

“Shall we?” Kuya held the door open to him semi-jokingly when Andrias didn’t look like he was moving from petting the horses’ noses. He knew horses, at least. Though these were quite taller and less hairy than the ones he was used to.

Once inside, Andrias marveled over the design and the softness of the seats. He felt like he shouldn’t even sit on them, so they remain in pristine condition. When Kuya noticed this, he laughed.

“Just you wait for the palace. Your eyes are going to fall off at this rate.”

Andrias wanted to keep his eyes, thank you very much. 

“And what about you?” he changed the topic.

“What about me?”

“Are  you used to it?”

Kuya took longer to respond. “Well, partially, I suppose. I work in the palace, after all.”

“Yeah, messenger boy...” Andrias looked out of the window at his new land - the land he’s now going to rule. 

“Actually, I’m training to be a guard.” 

“Really?” This surprised Andrias greatly, and his cheeks coloured in embarrasement for never asking what kind of job Kuya usually does. Kuya nodded.

“Why?” Andrias could not imagine himself in the heavy armour he imagined the guards must wear. 

“To protect,” came the immediate response. “These people gave me home, I want to repay them in any way I can, and this is the best one.”

Andrias didn’t have anything to say to that, so he looked outside once again. He found he liked the Hearts’ landscape. After getting out of the port’s zone, it was quite beautiful. A field here, a small forest there, colourful flowers swaying in the wind. And then they came to the capital, and the fields transformed to busy streets with many shops and people curiously staring at the royal carriage. Andrias quickly shut the curtains tight, so the people couldn’t judge him immedietally. Kuya laughed, saying they will later anyway. That didn’t add to Andrias’ already crumbling confidence. 

“See that statue? That’s King Ragnar,” Kuya pointed out when the carriage reached the main square which was bustling with people running around, doing errands. This was the ‘better’ part of the city, but Andrias found he was feeling even more out of place here. “The whole square is named Ragnar’s,” Kuya explained. 

“Creative,” Andrias sneered and both of them laughed. Andrias looked at the statues nonetheless, simply because it was part of the kingdom’s history he would be required to know. It was a riding statue, but Andrias didn’t make any more of the King than wild poofy hair and a sword held high.

Soon after passing the square, the ride was over as the carriage slowed, then stopped. Andrias felt almost nauseous with anxiety when he realised  this is it . He took Kuya’s offered hand and stepped out of the carriage, and was blinded. One thing blinding was the light of the day, which advanced to sometime around lunch, and Andrias would be hungry if his stomach wasn’t to preoccupied with trying not to vomit. However, even more blinding than the light was the Royal palace of Hearts in all its glory. Roofs of bright red, curtains of dark pink, walls of white and rosy pink, with the ever-present hearts drawn, stitched and carved, everything gleamed. Not to mention the incredibly high and intricately carved gate they just came through. Rose bushes were happily leaning against the front wall, along with two statues of giant dire wolves, one on each side, silently standing guard. 

“They represent the birth of the kingdom,” Kuya whispered as they walked closer to the entrance. “Because the whole Hearts’ kingdom used to be a thick forest inhabited by many wild beasts. The Hearts’ ancestors fought the beasts and cut the forest down, and chose the wolf to symbolize their preservearance, cooperation and strenght with which they protected their young, the new generation. Basically. Each kingdom has its own origin story like this. And from it, they chose an animal to represent them.” They were getting closer and closer, so Kuya decided to cut his explanation short for now. “Clubs have a bear, Spades an eagle and Diamonds a nightingale.”

Now right in front of the giant wooden door to the palace, the boys stopped and grinned ceremoniously. “Jack Andrias of Hearts, welcome.”

And the door opened. 

<3

Andrias thought his eyes might get stuck wide like a cat’s it he dark, so many things he tried to comprehend all at once. The inside of the palace was even more beautiful than the outside, and it was too much for our poor boy who has never seen anything like this before. Soft carpets, polished tables, small but very pretty trinkets, vases with flowers, paintings reaching from the ceiling to the floor, and so on and so forth. Kuya nodded at the busy servants, and waved here or there, but it was silent. At least the beauty of the decorations made Andrias forget about his insecurities for a while, and distracted him from the questioning, curious and -Kuya growled quietly- judging looks on the passing people’s faces. 

This is where I am to live now? That can’t be real!  Yet he knew it is, he had pinched himself enough times already. The beautiful things all around him! Oh, lord, was he ever going to get used to it? 

Meanwhile, Kuya steered him to the parlour where the King would meet him. Two guards, one at each side of the door, nodded at him, for they knew the dark-eyed stable/messenger boy who longed and trained to be one of them. Then they peaked at Andrias with a mixture of curiousity, expectations and upon seeing a boy so young, even a tiny bit of fatherly-like tenderness. 

“So this is our new Jack?” one of them asked. Kuya nodded. “Yes, Hans, that’s him.” 

“You got lucky, huh?” the other joked. “The most unimportant part of the kingdom - and boom!” Quite accurate, if you asked Kuya. “What’s his name?” 

“His name is Andrias and he’s a fisherman’s son.”

“I only hope he can manage the job,” the other brooded darkly.

“I hope so too,” Kuya agreed. “But, he is the gods’ choice,” he shrugged. He then glanced behind him to find Andrias transfixedly staring at a vase from the Diamonds’ kingdom -a coronation gift from King Feliks and his Court- and couldn’t help but chuckle at his wide-eyed fascination, completely unaware of the conversation. Kuya went over and grabbed his friend’s arm, turning him to face the guards, who bowed as they would to any other royal. Andrias’ eyes went impossibly wide. Kuya chuckled and ushered him inside the parlour. Once inside, Andrias didn’t know where to look sooner. Many beautiful things were scattered around the room in a meticulous order. A polished cabinet with expensive decorative tea cups, plates and delicate statuettes here, a comfortable looking chair and a small table there, all completed with the wallpaper with a complicated pink pattern. Kuya would’ve offered Andrias to sit down, but he looked far too enthralled with the room to appreciate it from the seat.  He’sbeing very careful not to touch anything , Kuya noted.  Not even things that obviously wouldn’t break, such as the chair and table. 

There was a sudden meow, and a big grey cat strode to the room, a bright red bow tied around his neck letting everyone know he was being treated well in this household. Kuya knew him from tales of the maids, complaining about how the cat could complicate their jobs of cleaning the rooms greatly if he was feeling like a dick. However, the cat didn’t look like it was about to pull some stunt that would get the boys in trouble, quite the opposite. He looked like his curiousity got the best of him. When Andrias spotted the ball of fur, he gasped “Kitty!” and bent down to let him sniff his hand. Apparently, the cat liked his smell, for he began rubbing his head on Andrias’ hand. The boy petted him happily, and even lifted him to hold him. Kuya didn’t warn Andrias in time that the cat didn’t like being held -at least that’s what the maids told- by anyone other than the King. They said he hissed at them when they attempted to do so. But even the maids had to admit the cat was well-behaved and didn’t destroy any of the expensive decorations. It was only that he didn’t really like anyone else than the King. He tolerated them, sure, but it wasn’t any sort of companionship. And now the same cat was being held by a stranger and didn’t hiss or scratch. Rather, he was purring.  Purring!  Kuya knew then the gods have chosen the right person. 

Meanwhile Andrias, with the cat in his arms, observed a portrait on one of the walls. It was the face of a nobleman in his 30s, Andrias guessed. He had a handsome face with sharp features, sky blue eyes and wild blonde hair that rested on his head in a rather poofy, spiky hairdo. He also had a equally blonde beard, not as long as village elderly, but not as short as young boys when they first manage to grow some facial hair and are proud of it. He was smiling, but it was a smile that sent shivers down Andrias’s spine. He couldn’t put a finger on it - it’s not that the smile was unfriendly- it was the like boy’s intuition was trying to tell him something. But he for hell couldn’t figure out what should he take out of it. He just knew the man had something sinister about him, something Andrias’ subconsciousness didn’t like. Kuya noticed his interest, and stepped next to him to admire the artist’s handiwork. He barely had time to admire it before. 

“Who is that?” Andrias asked, feigning admiration, but there was something in his voice telling Kuya he didn’t like the painting. 

“That’s King Ragnar.” 

Oh. Of course. The previous King. The one who came to their poor small island and claimed it as his own. Andrias’ stomach clenched and he frowned, the previous childish innocence and wonder replaced by a dark feeling he could not describe. 

“It’s... a good portrait,” he complimented half-heartedly, and it was the truth. The King’s face was painted so vividly it sent another waved shivers through Andrias. And they weren’t pleasant. 

“If you’re interested,” Kuya acted as if he didn’t sense the obvious change of the other’s mood, “there’s a gallery on the second floor. It has pictures of all the previous Courts, for it is a tradition to paint one when a new Court is complete. It has pictures centuries old!” 

“Oh, really? I’d like to see it sometime,” Andrias agreed earnestly. Kuya was about to tell him he could show him the way there, but didn’t get to, as there was a swarm of voices and steps coming towards them. Both of the boys tensed, and listened.

“Do you think the messenger boy brought a real Jack?” doubted one voice, belonging to an older man. 

“We’ll see,” another voice said, a younger man, and this time it was cheerful, filled with hope. 

“What’s the name of the village he was sent to again? I cannot seem to keep it in my mind,” a third one sneered. “And isn’t it a bit suspicious, that the Jack was found  right away ?”

“As I said-“ the second voice said as the door behind the boys opened, “we’ll see.” 

<3

Kuya turned around without a second’s hesitation, and bowed deeply. “Your Majesty.” Oh no. Oooh no. Andrias  panicked internally. Still clutching the purring cat, he turned around slowly-

and met the sky blue gaze of a man standing across the room. 

He was young, younger than Andrias expected, but then again, he mused, the same could be said about himself. Andrias immedietally recognised the King, simply because of his similarity with the portrait on the wall. The same eyes, face, and the hair, oh dear, even the hair is hereditary, what the heck?! Only the beard was missing, Andrias smiled slightly. He couldn’t even begin to imagine a beard on a face this young, still holding boyish charm to it. The massive difference between the portrait and the person in front him was, this man radiated warmth and friendliness to Andrias’ senses. He wore a curious expression with a grin that screamed “friend!!”, or at least it did to Andrias’ instincts. And the man -King- seemed to be thinking the same about Andrias. 

The two didn’t even notice they were blatantly staring at one another until one of the noblemen who came in with the King coughed. Andrias jumped a bit when the cat in his arms affectionately rubbed her head on his cheek, for he forgot he was holding him. The King noticed this, and he grinned wider.

“Woah, Andie is never this affectionate with strangers! What is your secret??” he asked, genuinely surprised, and Andrias completely forgot Kuya’s tugging hand, wordlessly telling him to bow, just like they practiced on Ameripan just days prior. 

“I guess I’m just good with animals,” Andrias shrugged nervously. The King chuckled warmly. “Well, it seems like you are better with animals than with people,” the King tilted his head slightly, amused. It was only then that Andrias remembered himself, and hurried to bow his head, following Kuya’s example. “I’m so sorry... Your Majesty,” he internally cringed. Calling this man ‘Your Majesty’ felt so wrong for him, whatever the reason may be. “I.. forgot myself.”

“Lift your head,” the King ordered. “Both of you,” he added, only now noticing Kuya’s presence. The two unsurely did so, and glanced at one another, neither knowing what comes next. To the surprise of both of them, the King began taking his coat off -and what a coat it was! The finest velvet, bright red, with hearts embroided all over it in intricate designs- and then he took off his chemise, and stood there half-naked. The thing immedietally catching Andrias’ attention, however, wasn’t anything other then his Mark. On his chest, right over his heart, was a Mark it he shape of a heart, with a big black ‘K’ on it. Andrias couldn’t look away like the noblemen did. Instead-

“Does it itch you too?” he blurted out without much thought, then blushed. One of the nobles set him a horrified look, but the King only laughed it off. 

“Not really. It did for the first few days, but it doesen’t anymore.” 

“Oh,” was all Andrias could reply with. 

“So,” the King began, picking his clothes and putting them back on, “I’m taking it as you having a Mark as well?”

“I-“ Andrias began, but was cut off by Kuya.

“That would be correct, Your Majesty. You see, I-“ 

“How are you planning on convincing us it is the real Mark, Mr Messenger?” sneered one of the two nobles, the one with the sharper tongue. Kuya frowned. The King did as well and turned to the man who interrupted. “I would like to hear the whole story without interruptions, Lord Olson, if you allow,” he almost growled. The noble bowed his head in feigned shame. “Please, do continue.”

“I was sent to one of the new teritorries, the archipelago northewest from the capital of our beautiful kingdom,” Kuya spoke, “While I was there, telling the villagers of our 

loss and search, a street fight broke out, and one led to another....” he nodded at Andrias as they had rehearsed, and he turned around, the ripped grey sweater giving way, exposing his equally ripped shirt underneath, and under  that , on his skin... Kuya spreaded the remains of the clothes to expose a very similar Mark to the one on the King, only it was slightly smaller and had a black letter ‘J’ instead of ‘K’. 

The room collectivelly gasped. 

Andrias didn’t dare look up and the expressions on the nobles’ faces. Then he heard steps and a soft “May I...?” The boy looked up to see a hand hovering over his back, the King having a curious yet soft expression, as if Andrias was something precious and delicate, something that could be broken with a single touch. It made him blush and turn his head back with a curt ‘go-ahead’ nod. 

Soon there was a hand right on the itchy spot on his back. As soon as the careful palm touched his back, his  Mark , he felt a powerful surge of heat run through him like lightning, all the way from his back to the tips of his fingers. And then there was darkness all around him. From the darkness emerged a shining figure, a man unknown to Andrias, who smiled at him and nodded, as if he’d known Andrias for... ever. And Andrias really thought he did. At that moment, he knew. Andrias knew. He was destined for this. He was destined to live in the palace, by the King and Queen’s sides. A mark of Hearts shone in his eyes. 

And then the mark turned to the boy’s usual Northern lights, as it disappeared, leaving Andrias breathless and bewildered. Never before has he felt such a feeling of... belonging. 

Apparently, the King could feel something akin to it as well, for he looked up from Andrias’ Mark with a dreamy gaze, and nodded. Nodded to himself, nodded to the nobles, nodded to the world.

“He’s the one. This is my Jack.” 

<3

Water was being poured over Andrias’ head as he lay in the big tub, letting himself be cleaned, cleaned to be worthy of being in the King’s presence. Jack or not, nobody with tousled hair and smelling of dead fish can have lunch with the King. So that’s why he was here, being taken care of by servants he couldn’t count even using both his hands and feet. It seems the word spread fast, because the whole palace was aware of his presence now, even though it’s been barely an hour. 

Maids massage some wondefully smelling shampoo in his hair, then pour it away once more. Andrias is just fascinated with everything in the palace. From he decors to the staff, he feels like he’s going to be getting used to it for a long time. And he didn’t even think about the King yet!

Andrias smacks his face nothing water’s surface, then lifts it just as fast when the bubbles get in his eyes. He sputters, but immedietally there’s a maid carrying a towel he can use to wipe his face dry. He thanks her and does so while the other maids are preparing some sort of cremes and face-masks and loads of other beauty products Andrias can’t even name. Back home, it was one washtub, one soap, and a mere few minutes each. Now Andrias had wrinkled fingers from the hot water.  But if this is what Jacks regularly do , he thought, happily submerging his head when being told so,  then it might not be as stressing as I thought....

“Alright, Sir, if you could get out now, if you please?” he was asked, and damn, did it feel bizarre to be addressed as  Sir . 

Andrias looked to the maid, at the big fluffy towel she was holding out, and did as she told, stepping on the even fluffier mat on the floor and wrapping the towel around him. Back home -no, not  home anymore, Andrias reminded himself \-  the towel was small, smelly and itchy. This towel though, this large, pristine white, flowery-smelling, fluffy towel was something Andrias hesitated to take, still seeing himself as a dirty village boy. However, in the eyes of the staff, that’s not who he was. In their eyes, he was royalty now. 

Andrias looked in the mirror. He didn’t really see any change, as he half-expected. No, still the same scrawny 10-year-old with peculiarly coloured hair that went from the lightest of blonde all the way to nearly black, grey eyes that hid a hint of green and blue when the light was right, and a scrape on his knee from last week. Though now clean and diligently scrubbed of any remaining smell of fish and of the ocean, he noted as he discreetly sniffed at his arm. This bothered him to some extent, feeling as if the servants tried to hide that scent, that last reminder completely with layers upon layers of cremes and lotions. When they were done, he smelled like a spring meadow, not the fisherman’s son he really was. He frowned slightly, and the nearest servant jumped to him immedietally.

“Is there anything not to your liking, Sir? Can I do anything for you?”

Wow . “Uh, no, thank you. I just- I don’t really like all this stuff,” the boy nodded to the shelf that held all of these beauty potions. 

“Do you not? It is only the best,” she explained. 

“Well, yeah, but I guess I’m just not a big fan of it,” Andrias rubbed his neck. The maid nodded curtly. “Ah, I see. The King, also, doesen’t fancy these too much, though he does have a liking of baths.”

Yeah, I can see why.  “Oh, um, thanks anyway!” 

“Sir?” she looked at him playfully.

“Yes?”

“You don’t have to thank us all the time.”

Andrias shrugged.

Next came the clothing. Andrias somehow convinced the servants to keep his sweater (“with all due respect, Sir! It is old and worn out, and you could have fifty new sweaters far better than this one, are you sure we shouldn’t throw it out?”), one of the few reminders of his old life he possesed, reluctantly agreeing for it to be at least washed. Anyway, so here he stood, in another far too fancy room for it to serve merely a dressing purpose, covered only by another large towel, standing nervouslystill as yet another servant -of a higher status, Andrias assumed as all the previous servants bowed to the man- circled him, muttering. 

“Oh dear, this isn’t what I expected. This  certainly isn’t what I expected,” the older man with a signature thin yet fancy mustache, dressed in a fine coat himself, muttered. “A boy so young, hmmm... What will I we ring for you...Sir,” he quickly added. Andrias tilted his head. 

“Perhaps... Ah yes, I think we have some outfits of the King’s when he was younger still...,” he thought out loud, rummaging through a giant wardrobe, one probably as big as Andrias’ former family’s living room. The man produced a shirt, as white as fresh snow, along with some pants (bright red, of course), along with a waistcoat and a coat so bright it hurt the boy’s eyes (Andrias was already getting sick of red and he’s been here for what, two hours?). Then he added a pair of fancy black boots and some stockings. 

“There,” he said nonchalantly, presenting the outfit to Andrias. “That’ll have to do until we call a tailor and take your measurements.” Andrias, who wore rough sweaters, thick pants and too-big ugly shoes his whole life up to now, was astounded by the clothing’s comfort and softness, by the way the stockings hugged his legs, feeling like they’re made of clouds, and how the shoes were  almost his size. He did need some help to get all the layers on, but once he did, he felt  fabulous . The servant, Joachim was his name, was still bothered by the fact that Andrias was keeping his sweater, but actually found he rather liked the young Jack otherwise. At least he was polite. A smile graced Joachim’s lips more than once at hearing “Thank you!” every once in a while, honest and sincere for a change. By the end of their session, the two had agreed on calling one another simply by their names, since Andrias got all nervous upon being called Sir, and Joachim didn’t mind, since Andrias was so young. 

“Well now!” Joachim exclaimed as he looked Andrias up and down, spinning him around. “I say you look like a real Jack now!” Andrias giggled, and thanked his new friend once more. 

Kuya was waiting for him outside, leaning against the wall. When he saw Andrias’ new attire, he whistled. “Woah, I almost didn’t recognize you!” he joked, earning a punch to the arm. “Alright, alright. I’m here to escort you to the dining hall, since we happened to ‘form a bond’ or something like that, according to the King,” he explained and held out the crook of his arm. Andrias stared at it for a good moment before Kuya sighed and dropped the act. 

“Nevermind.”

“What was that?” 

“That’s... something the high class does. Guys are supposed to do that and girls should hold onto the arm, I think. I see it very often, so I thought... never mind.”

“Oh?” Andrias was intrigued. “Why do they do that?”

“I’m sure they’ll tell you in your lessons,” Kuya shrugged. “Anyways, let’s get going.”

The walk lasted a few short minutes, shorter than Andrias would’ve liked. With every step there was more and more he wanted to explore, more and more he wanted to look at closely and print every detail in his memory. He didn’t pay attention to the path, being so distracted with... everything, really. Kuya chuckled, feeling weirdly protective of the shorter boy.  That might be because Andrias doesen’t have anyone else here,  he mused. To him too, the walk seemed way too short. Soon they were standing in front of the door to the royal dining hall. It was a grand door, made from scared ash wood and in it were carved wolves, forests, seas, lush meadows and flowers of many kinds that grew in the kingdom. The Hearts’ kingdom didn’t have the highest plant diversity in the world for nothing! 

A servant noticed the two boys awkwardly standing and bowed, indicating for the guards to open the door for the two. Or, rather, for their Jack, Kuya realised. He himself wasn’t wanted, so he tugged on Andrias’ sleeve and slightly bowed his head. “I’ll be taking my leave now,” the brown-eyed boy said “I’m sure you’ll be busy these days, so I won’t bother you. If you need me, I’ll be most likely training with the guards.” Andrias shook his head. “You don’t  bother me at all!” he said, to which Kuya nodded with a grin and trotted off. Andrias took a deep breath and faced his destiny.

“Hej there!” the King greeted him as he entered the room. A giant room with equally giant table with a smooth white and pink lace table-cloth laying on it. Andrias was almost sure his entire village could sit at the table comfortably. But there were merely two sets of cups and silverware. He frowned. What a waste of space, no? 

Realising the King was waiting for a reply, he bowed as low as he could. “Um, hello.”

“Please, sit down,” the King, sitting at the head of the table, invited and pointed to the empty seat on his right. Andrias nervously shuffled to it, plopping on the cushioned chair and wiggling nervously. Damn, was the seat comfortable! Probably the most comfortable thing he ever sat on in his life! Next he examined the table. Old but well taken care of, as expected. Andrias wondered how old it actually was. Decades, definitely. Centuries? Maybe. This table has seen more Kings and Queens and Jacks in his life than anyone else ever could. But, with a bit of annoyance, he noticed a tiny smudge of something on it. He wiped it with his sleeve, only to hearlaughter next to him.

The King was laughing. Andrias’ first thought was “what did I do wrong?” but he then realised this wasn’t a ‘just-you-wait-to-be-fed-to-wild-beasts’ kind, but a ‘my-friend-did-something-funny’ kind. It wasn’t often he heard this kind back at home. More like almost never. Andrias’ mother laughed like a hissing snake and father-in-law like a thunder. Kuya and the King laughed like friends. 

“Taking care of the palace already, huh?” the monarch asked playfully, grinning wildly, and it made Andrias feel at ease. He could forget his nerves now, he was safe. Nobody will hurt him. He nodded with a small smile of his own. 

A servant came andopened the door on the other side of the room, the one for servants specifically, bowed and a mass of others came up, carrying multiple covered plates and pitchers filled to the brim with beverages. The King nodded at them, Andrias uttering a shy “Thank you”. They went out as soon as the went in, and the two Court members were alone once again. The King stared at a blushing Andrias for a moment before speaking.

“You don’t have to thank them constantly. It’s their job, you know,” he said, but it didn’t sound annoyed or bothered by it at all. 

“My father taught me good morals. Thanking people who do something for me is one of them,” Andrias replied embarrasedly. The King gave him a inquiring look, but didn’t pry. After a short while, when it was clear nobody else was going to come to dine with them, Andrias found courage to speak. 

“Do you always eat alone?” When he got another stare, he quickly added “Your Majesty!” The King grinned again.

“You don’t have to call me that, please don’t.”

“Huh?” Andrias looked up, happy to comply. It felt weird anyway. “Then what should I call you?” 

“Mathias.”

“Mathias...?” So that’s the King’s name. Mathias. That’s M, A, T, H, I- and suddenly Andrias understood Kuya’s mysterious “another as to the squad, huh?” And he burst out laughing. 

His laughter died when he saw Mathias’ face. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to!” he rambled. “Your name is nice and all, it’s just, I remembered this one joke, and I- I’m so sorry!”  Great. Now you’re dead. 

“Huh. Okay.” 

The boy looked up. “What?”

“You can explain it to me later, if you want,” Mathias said, that grin back at it again.

“Then... you have to call me Andrias!” 

“Alright!” 

The two grinned and looked at each other for some time, blue eyes and greenish grey, before Mathias noticed the plates and uncovered one. “Oh, sorry! What kind of a host am I? You must be starving!” Andrias didn’t reply, for he was too busy staring at the fish on the Jack’s plate, perfectly cooked, with some vegetables Andrias didn’t know the names of around it, and it smelled wonderfully. Then he poured some delicious drink in his cup and chuckled upon seeing the boy’s staring at the food. He then uncovered his own plate with a fish just the same, and poured mead for himself. “Well, dig in!” 

Andrias didn’t need to be told twice. As a self-proclaimed fish specialist, his mother always tried new ways to cook them, but his mother had nothing to  this . He munched and munched, then took a sip of the drink and  holy shit I think my tastebuds just exploded.  Meanwhile, Mathias kept chuckling and smiling upon seeing the stars in the younger’s eyes. It wasn’t too long before they both emptied their plates, Andrias smiling contentedly like a cat who has been petted. 

“Did you like it?” 

“Like it? No,” Andrias said. “I LOVED IT! That was the most delicious food I’ve ever had!” 

“Really?” He didn’t even need to ask, seeing the boy’s honest face. “I’m glad!” Now Andrias was truly home, with this nice man, with the one who’s back he’s destined to have. 

“I never answered your question,” Mathias realised. “No, I often have various ministers and the chamberlain here. Sometimes though, sometimes I do eat alone. But that’s to change, isn’t it?” he winked, and it wasn’t just the fire from the huge fireplace that was making Andrias’ insides warm. His smile hurt his cheeks, but he didn’t stop. “I guess so.” 

“With you,” the King continued. “And with....,” he looked longingly to his empty left. With the Queen. With the one that’s needed. With the one that destiny chose for him. 

“Andrias?” The boy looked from the empty seat to Mathias questioningly.

“Do you know why you’re sitting at my right? Why Jacks sit at the Kings’ right?”

“...because they’re the ‘right hands’?” he guessed. Mathias rewarded him a smile. 

“Good guess, but only a half-truth. It’s because we have a heart on the left side, right?” he put his hand to his chest. 

“Oooooooooh,” Andrias said, understanding. 

“Exactly. The Queens sit on the left, because they have the Kings’ heart.”

“Awe,” Andrias squealed. Who could’ve thought some traditions have such origins as this? And it made him think. His father loved his mother, Andrias was pretty sure. He never shouted, or hit her. His father-in-law didn’t hit her as some other husbands in the village sometimes did, but they had argued from time to time. Then Andrias noticed the for once serious and distant look in Mathias’ eyes. 

“Don’t worry, Mathias,” he said determinedly, touching the King’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out,” he assured him and he meant it. Now that he was here, he was well damn gonna do what he could to help the kingdom. He was the Jack now, and he wasn’t nervous anymore, only determined. Determined to be by the new King’s and Queen’s sides. So what if one of them wasn’t found yet. They will be eventually, Andrias was sure of that, somehow. And they’ll be together, just like they should. And they’ll join the long memory of this ancient table. 


	2. The Jack - 2/2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. But it IS really long, so I hope you’ll forgive me :) it’s mostly setting up for later. In the following chapter, the plot will thicken.

Snow. Crunching of the feet on it, marking the arrival of the men. Of the army. Of the ones who wouldn’t ever go back. It is clear what King Ragnar wants - to win another piece of land for the Hearts, or to die trying. But with his new... weapon, it should be no other than the first option, he glanced at the red cape upon a body covered in shining armour, with the Hearts’ symbols all over it. He wouldn’t lose when he had it around. He never lost. 

The golden-haired head turned to look at the men, and to give orders. A small village, sheltered by the forest surrounding it from three sides, was already visible in a valley before them. He grinned. Even if he was up against the so-called forces of magic, he was confident he wouldn’t lose. He had a bit of magic on his side as well, after all. 

“Stop!” he barked out, not looking at the men in front of him, but at the small red-caped person slouching beside him, trembling. “Get your sword,” he ordered. She sighed and did so. He grinned further, and it wasn’t a friendly grin. At that moment, he really looked like a dire wolf, ready to pounce on his prey. She gulped, the sword in her hands heavy, too heavy with the lives it had taken. How many lives is it yet to take? She didn’t know, didn’t want to know. She felt like she had taken enough for multiple lifetimes. What an irony, she grimaced sadly, preparing herself for the order that was surely to come. And it did.   
“ATTACK!”

<3

Andrias woke up to the soft rays of sunlight seeping through the peek in between the thick red -of course- curtains. He yawned and stirred, then pausing when he realised he couldn’t hear his mother preparing breakfast, nor the shrieks of the seagulls outside. And that his bed was disturbingly comfortable. And he wasn’t sharing it with anyone. He jolted awake, to see what the heck happened, pushed away the curtains, and wondered how had his room become about six times bigger and his bed so much softer and much more comfortable. The light-pink walls with a wallpaper of little doves and light roses greeted him as he looked around, at the polished walnut-wood table with a collection of quills by the big window, at the walls adorned with pictures of landscapes and beautiful gardens of the kingdom, at the wardrobe with wolves carved all over it into intricate patterns, at the soft carpet by the bed, and finally, at the four-poster bed he found himself in, wrapped on a soft but warm blanket and resting on plush pillows just a moment ago. Then there was a faint itch on his back, and it all came back to him. 

Right. I’m the Jack now. The third most important person of a kingdom. I guess I should get used to it, he realised as he examined the nightgown he’d been given yesterday. Such a soft material, and such intricate sewing. Of course, the sewing on his nightwear included a bunch of hearts around the buttons and on the hems.  
Damn, what a lot of hearts. I don’t know how they don’t get sick of it. 

Just as he was about to get up and find something more suitable for himself to wear, there was a light knock on the door and a few maids came in. One stepped further, holding a bowl of what Andrias learnt was clear water and a towel, and he took the hint and washed his face. Others took it as a sign to step in, carrying trays of food and drinks this time. There was even a small vase with a rose on one of them! 

“Good morning, Your Highness. Breakfast is served.”

They all bowed their heads and began to arrange the breakfast on Andrias’ bed. The said boy plainly stared at it all, trying to comprehend what was happening. Surely, this all wasn’t-  
“Uhm, this is all for me?” he asked uncertainly, eyeing an egg prepared in such a way he’d never seen before. The maid closest to him, one that had her hair tied back with a ribbon, looked at him as if he said something unbelievably stupid. 

“Of course it is, Your Highness, Sir.” Andrias choked on air.

“A-all of this?” he gestured towards the food, which was obviously too much for him. The maid nodded slowly. 

“Of course, Sir. His Majesty himself ordered it for you. He wasn’t sure what your favourite food is, so he ordered all of this be prepared for you.” He did?

“That’s... nice of him,” Andrias smiled uncertainly at the memory of the nice King and the great feeling he had around him. 

“It is, yes,” the maid agreed. “He is a good man,” she let a smile show on her face, her green eyes glinting. 

By that time, all the other maids were finished with their task and bowed again, taking their leave. The maid took to leave as well, but Andrias stopped her. 

“Wait- um, I don’t know your name.”

“Emma,” she turned to him confusedly. “It is Emma.”

“Well, nice to meet you! I’m Andrias!” he exclaimed, offering her his hand, which she didn’t take, but smiled. 

“So they weren’t lying when they said the new Jack is so naively polite,” she retorted.

“Sorry?” Andrias tilted his head. 

“Don’t be,” Emma said, sitting on the edge of his giant bed. “It’s cute,” she smiled again, and Andrias sheepishly did so too. 

“So anyway,” Andrias got to the point “how do you call these?” He pointed at a plate of fluffy-looking meal loaded with some sweet-smelling syrupy thing that was making Andrias’ stomach churn. 

“These? Those are pancakes,” Emma said, a bit taken aback by the boy’s lack of culinary knowledge. Just from what land is he, where they don’t have pancakes? 

“Pancakes,” Andrias repeated, taking one and plopping it in his mouth. And his tastebuds bursted. “It’s so sweet!” he marveled. 

“It’s supposed to be,” Emma laughed at the boy’s star-eyed expression. “The King likes pancakes too. On it is maple syrup, we import it from Spades.”

Andrias munched on the pancake happily, then turned to another plate. “And this?”

“Muffins.”

“Muffins. Huh.”

Half an hour later, Andrias had already eaten as much as he could from his all-but-meager breakfast, learnt about lots of new food and made a new friend. He generously offered Emma pieces of it too, promising to keep it between the two of them, and so she, too, licked maple syrup from her fingers as she got up from Andrias’ bed and stacked the now-empty plates on each other and took off. She was a very nice and friendly girl, Andrias got to know, who’s worked here since practically a child, and had two brothers, one of which worked as a head gardener, the other as an assistent accountant. 

Look at you, making allies already, Kuya would say, Andrias thought. Speaking of which, I hope I’ll get to see him soon, there’s so much I want to tell him!  
Before Andrias could even finish that thought, he was met with a familiar man entering his room. Huh, is it the ‘let’s all burst in Andrias’ room’ day? It sure looks like it is. And I haven’t even gotten up yet! 

The servant bowed and Andrias smiled at him. “Hi Joachim!” 

“Good morning, your Highness,” Joachim greeted. Andrias giggled. Then became a bit sad as he continued. “I do hope you slept well,” because nobody at home would care about his sleep. And at some point, he stopped caring about the others’ as well. He nodded.

“What about you?” Joachim looked taken aback, but quickly covered it up with a smile. 

“Quite well indeed, Andrias, Sir.”

“Now, I have to ask you to kindly get up.” Andrias blinked at the fancy choice of words, imprinting it to his brain. That’s how he’ll have to talk, too.  
When Andrias stepped on the too soft carpet, Joachim began circling him with some kind of a funny-looking rope.

“What are you doing?” Andrias asked curiously, “that tickles!” he giggled when Joachim put the rope around his middle.

“I am taking your measures, so we can make you clothing specifically for your needs.”

“Huh.” Clothes for his needs? Made specifically for him? The boy’s head spinned, merely thinking of such luxury. 

The pleasant athmosphere didn’t last long, however. It was ruined shortly after, when the door opened again, this time for a tall nobleman to come in, inviting himself, and stepped in front of the boy and his friend, who bowed his head. Andrias tilted his own and looked up at him. 

It was the man from yesterday, Lord... Uehhh..

“Lord Olson,” Joachim said. “To what do we owe the pleasure?” Pleasure? Riiiight.

Lord Olson was a tall, well-built man around his early 30s. Unbeknownst to Andrias, all the noble ladies considered him very handsome, with his dark hair and muscly figure, always so prim and proper, losing themselves in those grey eyes. But gazing and gazing in them, Andrias only found hostility, if not outright disgust in them.   
It was clear it would be foolish to try and befriend this man. That didn’t mean he shouldn’t treat him properly, though.

“Good morning, Lord Olson!” the boy quirked his lips in an attempt of an amicable smile, but failing when the look in those eyes turned even more steely cold, as if saying for him to shut up. The Lord’s own lips turned to some form of a smile, but it was one reeking of falseness.

“Good morning to you too, Your.. Highness,” he spat the word as if it was poison on his tongue. “If you would be so kind and get dressed, you have duties to attend.”

“Duties? ....Oh, ‘f course, hold up a sec,” Andrias nodded and began putting on the clothes the maids brought him, not noticing the Lord’s wince at his accented words. They, too, were originally Mathias’ and slightly big, but comfortable, and without a doubt noble enough. 

“I’m ready,” he said, straightening his coat with the assistance of Joachim’s helping hands. 

The Lord turned around wordlessly, picking up a brisk pace, and Andrias stumbled after him.   
His new life has just begun.

<3

The Lord led him to what looked like a study room of some sort. Big table with a stash of papers on one side and a quill on the other, bookshelves filled to the brim with writings of all kinds of age and cover, a big window showing the clear sky above and the city below, lightning the whole room up with sunshine. It looked marvellous. 

“Woah,” escaped Andrias’ lips. 

“Welcome to the-“ Lord Olson began, but from him it didn’t sound welcoming at all, and he was stopped for good by a loud cheerful voice that entered the door right behind Andrias and the Lord. 

“-Jacks’ study room!” Andrias whipped around to see his friend. 

“Mathias!”

“Hi!” the King waved. “I trust you slept well?”

“Oh, yeah! The bed is suuuuper soft!” Andrias exclaimed. “And the breakfast was awesome, too! I never knew there were so many breakfast foods!”

“I’m glad,” Mathias laughed. “What was your favourite?”

“Hmmm,” Andrias put a hand to his chin in a contemplative gesture, “probably the strawberry cupcakes, they were so yummy! And the pancakes!” his mouth watered just thinking about it.   
“I know, right?! They are delicious indeed!” 

“If I may interrupt-“ a gruff voice behind Mathias spoke up, making Andrias turn his attention to this new person, an fairly old bit very wise-looking man with a silver beard that curled down his middle to stop at around his navel, tied with a ribbon. “we came here to teach the young Jack about his duties, not discuss breakfast foods,” he said, but with a friendly tone to it. Mathias coughed. 

“Right. Andrias, this is Lord Rosenberg, he’s the one on Jack duty while we were looking for you”, Mathias explained. Andrias bowed his head, feeling the powerful, yet pleasant aura the man was emitting. “So he’s going to teach you all about being a proper Jack.” Andrias swallowed. A proper Jack. The words echoed in his head long after Mathias said them. 

“But don’t worry,” the King smiled wider. “He’ll treat you well. He trained me when I was a young boy, so you’re in good hands,” he nodded at Lord Rosenberg, who nodded back. 

“Speaking of which, don’t you have some paperwork to attend to, young man?” Lord Rosenberg teased, smiling kindly. Mathias groaned. 

“I hate paperwork!”

“I know that, but-“

“But it must be done, yes yes,” Mathias finished. “Oh well. I do hope you’ll have fun, Andri! See you later!” he waved and was gone, leaving Andrias feeling calmed instantly. Lord Rosenberg bowed his head, then looked at the new Jack, seemingly cutting through his heart and mind with his still-sharp eyes. Then he nodded. 

“Lord Rosenberg, if I may-“ sounded a voice Andrias had completely forgot about, and sent an unpleasant shiver down his spine. 

“Lord Olson, thank you for you assistance, but I will handle this alone,” the older man said, his voice leaving no room for arguments. The younger Lord sensed this as well as Andrias, and sighed irritably. “Then I do hope for the smoothness of your session,” he retorted, grey eyes piercing Andrias’ greyish-green, and with his brisk pace left the room. Andrias had a feeling Lord Olson didn’t like him at all. 

“So, dear boy,” the remaining Lord turned his focus to Andrias, “shall we get started?”

The very first lesson was writing. Andrias could write, his father taught him as much, equipped only with a blunt pencil and a bit of blank paper he had torn from a book, one of the very few they owned, his father dictated the alphabet for the seven-year-old boy to write. He liked to think he was one of the most educated in his former family, since his brutes of older brothers couldn’t write nor read, and did only the very basics of counting. Yet when the Lord examined his handwriting, he clearly wasn’t impressed. He explained why he has to make a bigger difference between b and f, how his h looked like n, and so on and so forth. He did, however, acknowledge that the skill of writing of such a young boy from a poor family was much above the usual awerage. “Nothing practice can’t make perfect,” he had said, and it gave Andrias some hope, knowing he wasn’t a completely hopeless case. 

The next lesson was history. This Andrias actually welcomed, knowing a tiny bit of history from myths, but he wanted to be able to separated the reality and the fantasy   
people added through the years. 

“At the beginning, there was a deep forest within the kingdom, a forest of many magical beings. The land was framed by the deep sea, where many other beasts found their homes. However, one pack of beasts began taking control,” Lord Rosenberg’s voice had a pleasant ring to it, yet it could bring the emotions out in Andrias. 

“The wolves. Mighty dire wolves, who began fighting other creatures in order to come on top of the forest’s hierarchy. And eventually, they did. They ruled over the land wisely, until another kind began taking over. A kind born of the sea and meadows, a race so strong the world has never seen anything like it. A kind of humans. They waged many wars with the beasts, and, after centuries of fighting, won. The world was theirs. They cut down most of the forest, built many cities we know today, and began living civilizedly, taking the symbol of the wolf as the national animal. Around this time, the Marks began appearing. The very first human King, Odin the First, figured out their meaning, began making touch with the other three kingdoms, and so it is that all of the Courts keep balance together, each and every one of their members.”

By the time the lunchtime rolled around, Andrias was exhausted, his wrist hurt, and all he wanted was to go back to his too-comfortable bed and bury himself under the covers. But noooo. He couldn’t. He sighed as he sat down on hos chair, the same one as yesterday, on the King’s right. Seeing his new friend was, along with the promise of food, his greatest motivation. Well, most of it was the food, honestly. But that’s not important. 

“Andrias!” a voice hollered across the room, making the boy chuckle and wave. “How’s the training?” 

Andrias made a noncommiting noise, accompanied with a shrug that could mean anything. Lord Rosenberg shook his head unapprovingly, but did turn the corners of his lips a bit up. “It could’ve been worse. At least the boy can write, even if hos handwriting isn’t something to be proud about. And he’s got a sharp mind, eager to learn; overall, I think he’ll be fully prepared for his role in a few years - sooner than expected.”

Andrias gulped. A few years?! By this rate all the bones in his wrist will break before he becomes a proper Jack! 

“Ah, I’m glad to hear that!” Mathias replied. “And how do you feel, Andrias?” he turned to the boy who dropped his spoon out of surprise.

“I- well, my wrist hurts,” he said, brutally honest as always. Mathias’ smile faded.

“Oh, do you need something on it? Should I call the doctor?” Andrias smiled at the concern. 

“You’re nice, but no, it’s fine, I’m just not used to writing so much..”

“Then you’ll have to train harder to get used to it,” Lord Rosenberg interrupted. “A Jack who cannot write is like a horse who cannot run.” Andrias bowed his head. Well that was it. His wrist would die on him. 

Andrias’ wrist didn’t die on him in the end. But it sure hurt, after all those dictations Lord Rosenberg deemed necesseary for his handwriting to get more legible. After all, he would be the one making reports from the palace, the one signing all agreements. For that, he also trained his signature, to be able to write it perfectly and quickly enough. Andrias the Jack of Hearts. Andrias the Jack of Hearts. Andrias the Jack of Hearts! Again and again. 

Aside from how to do the paperwork, he was also being given lessons on the kingdom’s history, which was a thing that both excited him and bored him to the bone sometimes. He was given books to read, which he happily accepted - only until he realised they were mostly about politics. Still, he absorbed their contents like a sea sponge. Sometimes, Mathias’ cat would join him, purring on his lap while he studied the maps. Such a nice cat. Though he still had to call it a ‘cat’, because he always forgot to ask for its name. 

Not just once did he return to bed in the evening only to fall immedietally into deep, well-earned sleep. Next morning, a maid, usually Emma, with whom he soon became friends with as well, woke him up to breakfast. No more breakfast to bed, he thought sadly as he went down the stairs into the dining hall. In a week, Andrias could navigate the way to the dining hall, the Jacks’ study room, bathroom and Joachim’s dressing room. Speaking of which, his new clothes had been given to him mere two days after Joachim took his measures, so now he was strolling around here in a fancy red coat and the most comfortable pants he has worn in his entire life. And his shoes didn’t hurt his toes at all! Oh yes, this part of this life he enjoyed. 

He also enjoyed seeing Mathias at least three times a day, at every meal. The King’s presence calmed him deeply, and never failed to make his mood a little better. One small conversation over the meal was enough to motivate Andrias through the day, even though it wasn’t him that spoke. Mathias could go on about anything, it seemed, but the topic didn’t matter. Andrias told him some things about his previous life on the archipelago, but nothing concrete. He much preferred to talk about the many myths he knew. It turned out, Mathias was also a fan of myths, so the whole lunch could be spent talking about the differences in retellings. Lord Rosenberg, the wise man, let them. Sometimes they were joined by Lord Olson, as well, but Andrias couldn’t shake the feeling he doesen’t really like him. His eyes were always so cold, it made Andrias nervous. But luckily, he didn’t do much to him other than the occastional glare or two. He did not comment Lord Rosenberg’s comments about Andrias’ training. 

Andrias still had a long way to go, as he soon figured out. 

Though he slowly learnt the paperwork part of his job, he still lacked the social part. So, another teacher, this time a middle-aged irritable lady, was called to aid. And her lessons soon became the ones Andrias feared the most. 

“Sit straight!” she exclaimed as she punched Andrias’ slouched back. “No dangling your feet! Now, there are five types of commonly used forks, so listen up...”

Andrias just couldn’t understand it. Why would they make so many forks?? Wasn’t one enough?! Back home he only had a spoon, and how useful it was. But okay, he could handle sitting. What he couldn’t handle was dancing. 

“Stop, stop, STOP!” the lady yelled as Andrias did something wrong again. What is it this time? My stance? Wrong footing? Was I out of the rythm? the boy wondered. Ahh, he just couldn’t grasp this! He’s just a hopeless case in this, and he knew it. To make the matters worse, in that moment the door burst open, revealing the smiling blonde King. Andrias gulped. Ah, just when I begin to make friends - one of them -and the King, no less- has to see my utter failure. How.. hmm, what’s the word? Swell! 

“Your Majesty!” the lady bowed. “I was not expecting such a pleasurable visit from you. What brings you here? Will you watch the lesson?”

Oooohhhh nooooooo-

“Actually, I apologize, but I’ll have to end your lesson prematurely.”

Ooooooohhhh yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhh!

“Oh?” she looked up, frowning. “Well, this really isn’t too good of a time-“

“I’m sorry, but I have to borrow Andrias for a while. It’s an extremely important emergency.” 

The lady frowned, not noticing Andrias making victorious gestures behind her. But Mathias noticed, and smiled. Smiled so warm, smiled as always when Andrias was nearby. 

“Go on then, Sir.”

“So what was the emergency?” Andrias asked as Mathias led him through the halls. The other grinned. “Nothing.” Andrias was confused. “Then why did you come for me?”

“Oh, yes, actually, there is an emergency,” he said, patting the boy’s head. “You need to relax. How much sleep are you getting? I bet it’s too little to support a growing boy. There are bags under your eyes.“

“I-“ are there? Andrias had never noticed. But then again, he rarely looked into the mirror. 

“Lord Rosenberg isn’t going easy on you, is he? I need to tell him to ease you a bit,” Mathias thought out loud. Well, it was true that Andrias was tired. He still marveled over how Mathias cares this much about him, him, who just a few months ago was nothing. 

“Thank you,” Andrias breathed out. “You don’t have to.”

“Nonsense! Your health is most important!” 

Huh. Is this what it feels like to have a family again? The boy smiled, then sped up to catch up to Mathias.   
“W-where are we going?” 

“To the gardens of course!”

Gardens? Of course, the famous Hearts’ Royal Gardens, the most well-known garden in the whole world, probably. It was right here. Andrias had quite forgotten.

Due to the spring only just beginning, the gardens weren’t as colourful, as beautiful as in their best times, but it was clear they were going to be in a couple of months. A small army of gardeners were flicking around, but it was quiet otherwise. The green grass was poking out of the muddy ground, and the sky was grey, but Andrias could still see how beautiful it could be. It was huge, like really everything in this castle, small paths scattered around, and Andrias could even see a fountain, and various statues in symmetrical distances. 

“Woah,” he breathed out. Mathias chuckled. “You like it?”

“They say it’s the most beautiful garden in the world.”

“But do you like it?”

“I- well, yes.”

“I’m glad. Want to take stroll?”

“Can we?”

“Sure!”

So they did. They took the widest path, with Mathias showing Andrias everything in sight.  
“And here’s the place for violets! Violets are really pretty, even though they’re small. I like them a lot. Oh, and there will be peonies! Those always small so sweet. And there, beside them...”

It was a nice change from the rushed pace of studying. Andrias let the King chatted on, not really paying much attention. That is, until Mathias gave him the smug grin and led him off the main path. “Want to see something?”

“You bet!” Andrias replied eagerly. 

“Okay, follow me!” he yelled and took off. Andrias ran right after him, through the paths, through the greenery, and laughed. He felt like it had been a decade since he’s last laughed. He didn’t have time for it in between the books and scrolls and etiquette lessons. But now, as Mathias grinned wildly, he found himself grinning just as widely. They ran through a barrier of still bare branches and ended up in a small area with a bench and a -clearly old- fountain surrounded by trees and bushes. Mathias sat down and motioned for Andrias to follow suit. The royal cat appeared out of thin air, as cats do, and sat on Mathias’ lap, purring when Andrias began petting him. 

“This corner most people don’t know about,” the older boy began, “so I come here a lot... to think, y’know?” 

Andrias nodded. “To get away from the duties, right?” Mathias chuckled. 

“Right. Such a smart boy you are!” he petted the younger’s head. Or, well, if completely destroying the other’s hairstyle can be called petting. 

“Shut up,” Andrias laughed, then froze. Oh no, Oh nonono-

Mathias burst out laughing. Andrias blinked once, twice, and then joined him. 

“Soo, Andrias... how about we play a game?” Mathias asked, a grin on his face a bit devilish.  
“What kind of a game?” the other asked back, suspicious. 

“A question game! I’ll give you a question and you must give me a truthful answer, and then we switch! That’s fair, isn’t it?” 

“Huh... I guess it is...” 

“Great! I’ll start! Sooo,” he prolongs and Andrias feels a slight sting of fear, because - what if he utterly embarrases himself? “what’s your favourite colour?” 

Huh? Well, Andrias certainly wasn’t expecting that. “Oh, um, I like green. And blue, too.” Darn, was that a trick question? Was he supposed to say red?

“I like blue a lot, too.” What?! Andrias looked up, bewildered, at the still smiling King. It’ll probably take a doomsday to wipe that persistent smile off. 

“Your turn.” 

“R-right! Um, so...” Andrias looked around, looking for ideas, his eyes landing on the royal pet. “What’s your cat’s name?” Was that too silly a question? 

“Ah, good question! It’s Andersen,” Mathias replied, scratching the cat under his chin. “Did you have any pets?”

“Hmm, not really, no. Unless you count the gull I kept feeding for about a month until my parents forbid it,” he chuckled at the memory. 

“I imagine they weren’t the happiest about that,” Mathias laughed. 

“And how did you get Andersen?” 

Now that got Mathias sombered up. “I... a dear friend gave him to me on my birthday,” he strokes the cat’s fur thoughtfully. Then his eyes sparkled back up. 

“You did mention you had siblings, correct? What were they like?” 

“Woah, those are two questions!” Andrias teased. “Yes, I did. I had two older stepbrothers and three younger siblings, from my mother’s second marriage. They were... the younger were okay, but the two older, well...” he frowned upon remembering the first time he told his mother about the regular beatings, and her indifferent expression. “...they were total jerks!”

“Oof,” Mathias breathed. 

“And you? Do you have siblings?” Andrias was pretty sure Mathias would’ve mentioned it sooner if he did, but one can never be sure enough. 

“No, I don’t. And my parents were completely faithful to each other, so there’s no chance of illegitimate offsprings of either of them.” Andrias wanted to ask how can he be so sure, but bit his tongue and refrained. 

“Did you have many friends, back home? Do you miss them?”

“That’s two questions again! Seriously, how are you going to rule the kingdom if you can’t even count?” Andrias smirked. Mathias fake-gasped. “Oh, you wound me so.”

“Anyway, I didn’t really have many friends. I’m not much of a people person.”

“Oh, you’re not? You know, you’ll still have to have meetings with other nobles and your people and all that... I don’t want to spook you, I’m just saying.”

“Ah, I understand. But I can handle that, don’t worry!” he puffed out his flat chest. “I just don’t feel the need to be around other people all the time. But I can handle it if I have to.”  
And you?” Andrias asked when Mathias fell eerily quiet. “Do you have many friends?” The King sucked in a breath before replying. 

“I have Andersen,” he joked, then turned serious. “I used to have one really good friend, but I haven’t heard from her in years. Now I don’t have any true friends. Well, actually,” he looked straight at the younger boy, a sky blue gaze meeting northern lights in a storm, “now I have you.”

<3

Now I have you. Now I have you. That’ll be ringing in Andrias’ head until the day he dies. He studies even harder now. As the weather is becoming hotter and sunnier, he’s becoming a well-educated young gentleman of the court, remembering who he’s doing it for. He can lie and pretend it’s for the kingdom all he wants, but deep in his heart he knows that’s not the whole truth. 

“Knock knock,” said a familiar voice as he opened the Jacks’ study room door. Andrias turned around, amused. 

“You know, you’re supposed to knock on the door, then open it,” Andrias replied with a smile, getting up from his chair and stocking his papers into a semi-neat pile to greet the visitor. “Hey Kuya. Nice to see you again.’

“Nice to see you too,” Kuya replied. “I was told you’d be just finishing up your studies for today.”

“I am, yeah,” the other boy tucked a last stray paper and put away the quill. “Why?”

“Your good friend the King talked to me and I mentioned you wanted to see the gallery, remember? And well, he happened to have time now, so he’s waiting for you there.”

“O-oh.” To be fair, Andrias had forgotten all about the gallery. The former King’s portrait came to his mind, and he involuntarily shuddered. 

“Well?” Kuya came forward, gently grabbing Andrias’ arm. “Are you going?” Andrias nodded. 

“So, how are the lessons?” Kuya asked nonchalantly as he led his friend through the still much too large palace for Andrias to epbe able to orientate in it on his own. 

“Oh? Uh, yeah,” Andrias shook the unpleasant feeling about the portrait off. 

“Are you cold?” Kuya asked, suddenly sympathetic. Andrias stopped and shook his head, then nodded. “A bit.”

“Well, it still is a bit cold, I suppose,” Kuya mused, shrugging off his cloak and draping it over Andrias’ shoulders. The boy made a sound of protest, but decided not to decline the warmth the piece of clothing offered. It was rather nice, actually.

“The lessons... They’re... okay, I guess. Though sometimes boring. Especially the etiquette lessons,” Andrias cringed upon remembering the very morning lesson on proper dancing stance. 

“I heard,” Kuya chuckled. “But I also heard you’re doing very well overall.”

“Really?” Andrias scoffed. “Who told you?” Kuya put a finger to his mouth. “A little birdie told me.” Andrias lightly punched his arm. “Oh come on!” Kuya laughed, Andrias joined, and they forgot the weeks spent apart completely. 

Sooner than Andrias would’ve liked, though, they arrived in their destination, and Kuya left with a final ‘see-you’ grin in the boy’s direction. 

“HEJ!” 

Andrias jumped at least half a meter in the air in surprise. 

“Oh, sorry,” Mathias grinned. “I didn’t want to scare you.” Andrias shook his head. “Have some manners, young man!” Andrias imitated his teacher’s reprimands, earning more laughter from the King. “I humbly apologize, dear Sir,” he mocked. Andrias feigned being offended, and soon, more laughter filled the air. Oh, how nice it is to have friends like this.   
“Well then, shall we?” Mathias began when their laughter died down a bit, “I heard you were interested in paintings.”

“Oh, you did, huh? From who? Another little bird?” Andrias mocked. Mathias averted his eyes nervously. “You‘ve totally been speaking to Kuya, haven’t you?” 

“N-no!”

It was Andrias’ turn to grin now. “That means yes.” Mathias sighed, defeated. “Okay, yes, I have been. So what?”

“Nothing. Kuya’s a nice guy, isn’t he?” 

“Yes, I suppose so. He’s a hard worker, that’s for sure. Working hard towards becoming a guard.” 

“Yeah... He said he wants to return some favour.” 

“Oh, he probably means how he was adopted by the maids when he was a baby.”

“He was?!” Now this was an interesting new information. 

“Yep. Found him just outside the palace gate, and took him in. So he probably means that.”  
“Huh.” There was a short silence broken by the boy. “So... mind showing me those paintings you called me here for?” 

“Oh, sure thing!” Mathias beamed, and grabbed Andrias’ arm. Huh, is it a ‘Grab Andrias, everybody!” day? He led him through a giant door on the right, another ancient one decorated with carvings of various flowers and wolves, and stepped into a large room with dozens and dozens of paintings covering the walls, with barely any space between them. 

“Woah,” Andrias breathed out. And it was a ‘Woah’ deserving sight indeed. 

“Here’s the beginning,” Mathias pointed to the left. “The first ever Court in our history.” The painting was clearly ancient, and smaller in comparison to the others, depicting three figures dressed in long wolf skins. “I’m sure you already know who those people are, right?” Mathias asked. 

“The first ever Court of Hearts,” Andrias thought out loud. “Consisting of King Odin the First, his wife, Queen Frigga and Jack Loki.”

“Spot on!” Mathias cheered. “And they’re wearing the skins because-?”

“Because they fought the wolves, and won.”

“Correct again!” the King clapped. “Great! And now, this portrait right beside them-“

Little by little, Mathias showed Andrias all of the portraits, making a pop-quiz for him by asking who the people are and what significant they’d done. From the very beginning of a kingdom, all the way to the present - almost. 

“And this is the last Court,” Mathias said as he pointed to the very last picture. Andrias looked at it and -again- shuddered, despite Kuya’s cloak still around him, because the former King was depicted in all his glory so vividly you’d almost think he’s alive. This picture portrayed him in his younger days, smiling widely and holding a beautiful woman, elegance herself, who, in turn, smiled at him softly. One could almost touch the love these two obviously shared. But there was still something off about it for Andrias. If someone had asked him to explain this feeling, he wouldn’t have been able to. It was something instinctive, yelling at him, yelling “Danger! Danger! Danger!” even though there was nothing to be suspicious of. The King clearly loved his wife, and she so obviously returned these feelings. So why did Andrias feel as if the King had murdered several children beforehand? He shook his head, and the third figure caught his attention. 

On the King’s right stood a man. The previous Jack, Andrias realised. He was smaller and less muscular than the King, but he was smiling just as widely. His greenish-brown eyes sparkled as he smiled down at the child in his arms and-

Oh.

That’s little Mathias. 

Little Mathias was a fucking adorable child, puppy-eyed and red-cheeked. And, of course, with his signature hairstyle and wide grin. 

“That’s the former Jack, Reinhard. He was a good man and a great friend to both my father and me,” Mathias explained. His voice was thick with emotions. Andrias heard nostalgia and love in it, yet also sadness. Sad Mathias? On MY watch?! HELL NO! “Hey...” God, if only I knew what to say... “you were a cute kid.” Mathias chuckled, the sadness gone at once. Nailed it! But Andrias couldn’t help himself not to add a joking “Where did all the cuteness go?” That had Mathias feigning offense, and grabbing Andrias’ middle, laughing “Are you ticklish?” Not waiting for Andrias to say anything, he began with finding out his answer himself.   
“N-noooooo,” Andrias squirmed, trying to free himself, but to no avail. “I’m noooo-!!!” 

He burst out laughing maniacally. “St-stoooooooop! Maaaaaathiaaaaaas!” he yelled. “Ahahahahahahahaha!! I yieeeeld!! Stoop! I surr-ahahaa-ender!”

“Alright, alright,” Mathias retracted his hands with a grin that matched the one on the portrait. “I win!” he proclaimed, and Andrias couldn’t help but smile at him in the exact same way -without realising it- his predecessor had. 

The blank space beside the last portrait, impatiently waiting for the next one, didn’t bother any of them at the time. 

<3

The days were getting longer and hotter, and soon, spring had begun. And with it the buzzing of the gardeners, who planted new flowers and took meticulous care of the ones remaining from the last years, and soon the garden would be in its full glory, Kuya explained to Andrias as they stood on the balcony overlooking the large area. 

“See, there’s the Orchid fountain. And over there, the Rose gazebo. It’s not open to the public yet, but when it is, it’ll be the busiest place you’ll ever see. Busier than any marketplace. It is our main tourist attraction, after all. Don’t worry, though! Only the more distant part of the gardens will be open for the public. You’ll still have your peace and quiet in the palace. The first Jack, Loki, thought it out like that. Gotta give him credit for that. Sure, he was a sly and complicated man, but his brain was top notch.”

“Andrias of Hearts,” Lord Rosenberg said one day just after a lesson in such a tone that told Andrias it’s important and he ought to listen carefully. “Yes Sir?”

“You haven’t been informed about the King’s upcoming birthday, have you?”

Birthday? “N-no Sir.”

“Then you will be informed shortly by the King, I assume. He has taken quite some liking to you,” Lord Rosenberg’s lips curled a bit upwards. “I do think he’s better with you around.” 

Andrias didn’t know what to say to that. “I’m... I’m trying, Sir. I really am.” The Lord let his gaze travel on the boy’s face and he nodded. “I am aware.”

That lunch, Andrias didn’t even need to ask Mathias about it. “Andrias! Andri! I want to tell you about something!”

“Your birthday?”

“Ah-yes. And of what comes with it.” 

Andrias took a gulp of his soup, discreetly giving a bite of the chicken meat to Andersen under the table, and motioned for his friend to continue. 

“Well, I thought it’s about time we officially introduced you to not only the kingdom, but the world.” When Andrias didn’t ask anything, Mathias continued. “I‘d like to invite all the other Courts here, to celebrate, um, you and me, you know?” 

Andrias tilted his head in thought. He didn’t even begin thinking of meeting the other world rulers, and it sounded a bit intimidating, but he could understand its importance. Besides, he’d have his friends beside him. “Okay.”

“O-okay?” Mathias repeated, bewildered. “Just like that?”

“Sure,” Andrias finished his soup. “I mean, I know it had to come sometime. I actually appreciate you holding it off for so long,” he wiped his mouth, noticing Lord Rosenberg chuckling discreetly. 

“Then let the preparations begin!”

The King’s birthday were kind of a big deal in the kingdom, Andrias learnt. Everyone had free day, the Court would ride through the streets while the crowd cheered, all that jazz. A ball for the nobility was to be organised, with lots of food and drink (that’s the part Andrias liked the most), and the whole kingdom would just relax and be happy and worriless for one day. 

But Andrias had plenty of worries beforehand. And the first one was: what in the world would he get for Mathias??? That was something to keep him up at night, and even Lord Rosenberg noticed his absentmindness, and excused him sooner. Andrias would’ve enjoyed that if only he found the answer he’s been searching for. But, thankfully, his angel came. 

“Andrias?” he felt himself being shaken a bit. He opened his eyes, and there was light, so it was probably morning. An angelic face was looking at him. “Hhhhnn... Emma?” 

She looked quite concerned. “You need to go to sleep sooner,” she scolded. Then her features softened as she sat on the bed. “What’s troubling you?”

“I...,” Andrias wavered, but wanted to get it off his chest. “I have no idea what to get for Mathias.” She blinked, then smiled. “And that’s why you’ve been so troubled?”

“Yes. I mean, if I asked him, it’d be no surprise...”

“Honey, I’m sure he wouldn’t be mad at all, even if you didn’t get him anything.”  
“But I HAVE to get him something! He’s my friend!”

“Friendship doesen’t rely on material gifts. He wouldn’t stop being your friend.”   
“That’s...” the boy didn’t know what to say. “Thank you, Emma.” 

“You’re welcome. And by the way, I just thought if something you could do...”

Andrias nearly jumped off his bed. “Really?!”

“Say, Andrias, can you bake?”

“The day will begin at 8 am. The King will have breakfast, then at 9 will ride through the capital to greet the commoners. 11 to 13 is when the other Courts will be arriving, and at 13 we’ll have a lunch. Then it’ll be time to discuss some issues with the other Courts, and at 16 pm will the Royal gardens officially open for public, as we had some technical problems this year. Then it’ll be a high time for a quick dinner and by 7, the ball will begin,” Lord Rosenberg recited. “Any questions?” Andrias didn’t have any, because he was still processing it all. So much happening in one day... 

“If you don’t have any, we’ll talk about your duties on these events as a Jack. You will be expected to...”

You will be expected to.... this is what Jacks do.... you have to.... Jack.... 

“Andrias? Are you paying attention?” 

“H-huh?” the boy said blearily. I’m so tired. “Y-yes, Sir...” I just want to sleep...

But sleep he could not. He had a thousand of duties to do before that, starting with remembering all about the other Courts’ members, and ending with approving the designs of the ball and the menu, with Lord Olson’s help (he looked like he’d be rather everywhere but here. Andrias could relate). He slept soundly these days. So soundly he did not hear someone coming to his door late at night. But upon being intimidatingly stared at by Kuya, who took Andrias’ safety as his job and his responsibility, he left. Maybe some other day. 

<3

The day began like any day... just very early. It was over an hour before Andrias’ normal waking up that Emma came for him. If this wasn’t for Mathias, he thought as he blearily dressed himself, he would sooo ignore this and jump back on the still-warm bed. But, alas, he had nothing better, so he dressed and went out to follow Emma to the kitchens. 

About thirty minutes later, he found he was actually having fun with the dough. It was fun to shape it as he wanted and to lick the sweet jam off of his fingers when it was all done. By 8, the sweet little cakes were ready to be delivered, along with the rest of the breakfast. Emma put a checkered cloth over the plate with a wink, adpnd Andrias followed the rest of the servants upstairs. They were, of course, thrown off about his presence, but didn’t comment on it. When they reached the door to the King’s chambers, Andrias went in first.

“WAKE UP, SLEEPYHEAD!” he shrieked, much to the maids’ terror. The King shot upright in his bed -dude, that’s even bigger than mine, that’s like, a three-person-sized bed- wide awake and gaping. Andersen yawned, stretched and immedietally took interest in the bacon on one of the plates. Andrias took advantage of the situation, strutting across the large room and placing the plate on Mathias’ lap.   
“Now eat your breakfast, we’ve got a long day ahead.” The King blinked once, twice, then grinned. Grinned the grin reserved for Andrias. “Good morning. What do we have here?” he lifted the cloth. “Oh, yeah, try these first!” Mathias needed no encouraging, and dug in. “Hey, these are really good!” he stuffed a few more into his mouth.

“Mmm!” Andrias’ grin could rival his friends’. “Wanna know who made them?”

“Sure!”

“I did!” There was a moment of stunned silence, then “Really?”

“Yeah! It’s my gift! I got up an hour early to make it, so show some darn gratitude, would you,” Andrias jokingly punched his shoulder. Mathias took a moment to proceed all that, then, in one swift motion, hugged his friend, who was caught so off guard he didn’t even breathe for a moment. He was so surprised he said the first thing that came to his mind. 

“If I get munched cake on my shirt I’ll kill you.”

After eating breakfast with Mathias and changing into more ‘celebratory’ -as Joachim put it- clothes -honestly, how fancy can you get?!- and before he knew it, he wasbeing shown how to get on a horse. 

“You place one foot into the stirrup, like this,” Mathias demonstrated, “and put your other leg all the way to the other side. And there! Understood?” Andrias did understand it, but performing it would prove to be way more difficult. To get his foot into the stirrup, he basically had to do a split, so that wasn’t comfortable at all, he thought as Kuya tried to stifle his giggles. “Stop laughing and help me!”

“Yes, Your Highness!” Kuya mocked-saluted, but bent over for him so he could place his foot into the stirrup without straining nonetheless. 

Once up, there was another problem. “I-it’s so high,” Andrias dry-gulped. Hey, give him a break, he’s never rode a horse before! Never even seen one, until a few months ago. 

“Don’t worry, pal, this pretty girl is the calmest it gets. Perfect for beginners. Patient, too,” Kuya explained as he petted the grey horse’s nose. “Just hold onto the reins, but gently, lightly! There. She’ll do the rest. Won’t you, sweetie?” The horse neighed softly. Andrias saw Mathias grinning from in front of him, and felt instantly reassured. “You’ll go slow enough. You’ll grow into it, it’ll be fine.” 

And, surprisingly, it was. The guards cleared the path thought the city, which was decorated with various red ornaments on buildings and flowers in the streets. That wasn’t such a surprise to Andrias, though. What was, were the crowds. Crowds of commoners, as far as the eye could see, flooding the streets and shouting. God, are they loud. But, these weren’t shouts of warning, anger or fear. They were the shouts of happiness, exitement, and admiration. The love was overflowing, it was too much for Andrias, too much for a boy who grew up with the bare minimum of it. His eyes began feeling too wet and his heart threatened to burst. 

“Hej, are you okay?” Mathias slowed down to match his beginner pace and was currently looking at him with a slight frown. “If you don’t feel well-“

“I do,” Andrias interrupted him. “Feel well, I mean. I’ve never felt better,” he sniffed, and began waving his people with a genuine smile on his ten-year-old face.

The morning evolved into noon, and it was time to socialize some more. The first Court arrived in a golden-painted carriage, painted with images of birds and lush fields. And with the symbols of a Diamond. 

“Heeey, Tol, look at the wolves! Sure are big!” said a voice Andrias had to double-check was male. Its owner stepped out of the carriage, and Andrias’s eyes got hurt again as he observed the too-bright coat, golden for a change in the kingdom of red, and the young man whom it belonged to. His hair was matching his kingdom’s colours, while his eyes were coloured more like peas, and his attire like the entire Royal Gardens. From the Diamond royal tiara on his head was clear things was Feliks, the King of Diamonds. “Wooow, they totally have it nice here,” the man praised. Behind him, another man exited the carriage, a man a bit taller than the King, who reminded Andrias of a great healthy tree in bloom. “Yes, I suppose, Feliks.” He turned to Andrias and Mathias. 

“Um, good afternoon good Sirs, my name is Tolys of Diamonds, this is my husband, Feliks of Diamonds,” he tugged on the King’s sleeve, “and that’s our Jack, Raivis of Diamonds,” he extended his hand for a young boy, who couldn’t be much older than Andrias. “We are truly honoured to be invited here.” The Jack looked a bit spooked, so Andrias put on his best smile. He was worried he looked more like a shark than a friend, though. 

Mathias cleared his throat, then replied. “I, Mathias of Hearts, and my Jack, Andrias of Hearts, welcome you to our humble home.” 

Fancy, Mat, fancy, Andrias thought. Now was his time to shine. “If you’d kindly follow me, I’m going to show you your chambers,” he said almost monotonely, because he’s been practicing this line for hours. As the three followed him and made side comments about this and that, Andrias racked his brain for everything he’s learnt about the Diamond Court. 

Feliks, the King. Loves his horses and fashion, though he cares about his people deeply, too. Has ascended to the throne two years ago and only met Mathias once. He’s left quite a good impression, though. That’s why they’re so starched to one another. They just never had the time to grow close, unlike the other Kings. 

Tolys, the Queen. Quite a shy, not easily trusting Queen, who would do anything to protect his people. Has been found a year ago and has met Mathias once, as well. Is said to be an excellent strategist and a wise ruler.

And finally, their Jack, Raivis. He’s actually been in his position for the longest of the three, but didn’t befriend Mathias - probably because of his shy and secretive nature. He’s actually well-liked in the Kingdom, too, since he’s doing an excellent job as a Jack. 

“And just one more floor and we’re there,” Andrias informed the group while Feliks was making comments about the decorations that Andrias pretended not to hear (but secretly agreed, especially with the ‘too much red’ one.) “And here we are. I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy your stay. The lunch is at 13, so please do be on time,” he monologued as the servants opened the door to the large guest chambers number 1. Tolys thanked him and with that Andrias departed.

The next carriage who’s shown up was coloured green, and as soon as Mathias saw it, he grinned, uttering a “This’ll be fun!” Andrias didn’t need to ask why, since Mathias had already told him the day before. 

The Clubs Court: Berwald, the King. Has a cat-and-dog relationship with Mathias, with whom he’s been friends since childhood. Is described as Mat’s exact opposite - calm and quiet, responsible and level-headed. And not an idiot, Andrias chuckled. I can’t wait to see that. 

Tino, the Queen. He was found pretty recently, but Mathias has already met him like four times. Says he’s a calm, soft-spoken person, but could kill you without hesitation. I’m really curious. 

And Eduard, the Jack. Knew Tino from their school days, since they’re both from the common people. Is said to be the most intelligent person in the kingdom, if not in the world. But his slight awkwardness compensated for it. He’s a very efficient worker, if a bit antisocial. 

That’s all Andrias knew before the green doors opened and the Royals actually stepped out. “HEEEEEY, BEEEEEEEER!” was all the warning the Club King got before he was being thrashed around in Mathias’ steel embrace. So he kicked Mathias in the gut. Andrias decided he liked Berwald. Mathias howled and doubled over while Berwald wiggled free. 

The man was tall, like, really tall, taller than Mathias, and he’s the tallest person Andrias had ever met before. He had his intimidating face on, and Andrias couldn’t help feeling like a small, useless dwarf compared to him. 

“Berwald!” a new, sweet voice called, and a blonde head emerged from the carriage, followed by the rest of the person who Andrias assumed was Queen Tino. He looked sweet and fragile - but the boy could sense something in him, something he did not want to piss off. “Starting fights with Mathias already?” The Club King looked regretful. “He started it,” he mumbled in the deepest voice Andrias had ever heard to that day. “WHAT? I did not!” Mathias yelled.   
Tino rolled his eyes, then Andrias butted in. “Um, pardon me, but you totally did,” he grinned at his King, who gasped in betrayal. 

“Andrias! You’re supposed to be defending me!” 

Andrias raised his eyebrows. “Hmm, nope!”

“Andriiiiiiiiaaaaaaassssss!”

The Club King and Queen seemed just now to notice the boy, as he booped Mathias’ nose, and Tino laughed while Berwald’s expression softened vastly. 

“So you’re the new Jack, aren’t you?” Tino asked when he stopped laughing. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Um, great to meet you too,” Andrias dropped all fanciness. “I’m Andrias. Mathias has been telling me stories of you.”

“‘m sure he has,” Berwald glared at the shorter man who laughed it off, hurt no more.   
An awkward cough sounded right behind Andrias and he jumped a bit and turned around to see the third Court member, nervously cleaning his glasses. “Greetings.” 

“Hello. So, uh, now if you could follow me...”

This time around, Andrias didn’t feel awkward while accomodating the guests. Maybe because when he was leaving, Tino ruffled his hair and gave him a honey candy. Andrias noted that something about him is almost motherly. Almost. Well, he’d take him over his own mom anytime. And Berwald gave him and impression of intimidating outside but a soft inside, since the expression he had when looking at his Queen, betrayed he wanted to wrap him in warm blankets and feed him pancakes and beat up everyone who dared to go near him. That’s what Andrias got from it. And he immedietally awwed, because how precious! That made him wonder if the Hearts Queen would be anything like Tino. He certainly wouldn’t complain. 

“So?” Mathias asked him when he got back to greet the third and last Court. 

“I like them. And it’s obvious they love each other very much, it’s cute,” Andrias replied, not aware of the effect his words would have. 

“Yeah, he does,” Mathias agreed, but far less enthusiastically then before. 

“Oh,” Andrias slapped himself. “I’m sure our Queen will love you too, Mat, don’t worry.” The other’s reply was merely a shrug, but by then, it was nearing 13 and the last carriage, blue this time, emerged upon the horizon. Upon seeing it, the Hearts King cheered up a bit, because it carried his other good friend, King Alfred, and Andrias replayed everything he knew about them in his mind.

The Court of Spades consists of: Alfred, the King. Mathias’ good friend, from childhood as well. These two were apparently a wild duo. Ascended to the throne about six months ago, inheriting the tank after his father as well, and sometimes can be a bit irresponsible, but he’s trying. He’s young, youngest of the King’s and second youngest in all the Courts. I’m the youngest, of course. 

Then there’s his mother, Amelia, the Queen. She’s a kind-hearted old lady, but a sharp-minded one, too. She’s been described as just as wild and playful as Alfred in her youth. She’s a straightforward person, brutually honest, you could say, but she’s doing her duties exceedingly well. 

Yao, the Jack. Is said to be the best Jack there is, the one who works his hardest and plans his every move. He’s been Jack for years now, so Andrias planned to ask him a thing or two. You know, like two Jacks, just doing their thing, jacking- okay, okay, no. 

Sure enough, the door flew open and in a flash, there was a big blue mass between the two royals of Hearts, hugging them both. “Maaan, I haven’t seen you in so long!” Alfred retracted his hands, showing off a perfect white smile. Mathias responded with a grin of his own while Andrias stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. 

“Alfie, Alfie, don’t strangle the boy!” a woman’s voice joked, and the Queen got out of the carriage with the help of a man of an unidentifiable age with a stylish black ponytail. Must be the Jack, Yao. Andrias steutted up to them. “Need any help, ma’am?”

The Queen of Spades looked at him and laughed. “Oh no, thank you darling. Now, call me the new Jack, will you?”

Well this was awkward. “Ma’am... I’m the new Jack. A pleasure to meet you,” Andrias bowed just as deep as Lord Rosenberg taught him. The old Queen clapped her hands. “Oh my! Apologies, dear Jack, you just look terribly young.” 

Well, she’s not wrong about that. “May I accompany you on the way to your chambers?”  
Queen Amelia squished his cheeks. “Hmm,” she commented. “Mathias’ are squishier.”

<3

The lunch went better than expected. Andrias only spilled his drink once, and his cheeks were hurting because of another encounters with Queen Amelia. The conversation was one big chaos, but nobody seemed to mind too much. Mathias looked so happy, switching between a verbal catfight with Berwald and incredibly loud chatted with Alfred, and Andrias was just so happy seeing him happy. In truth, he felt a bit out of place. Okay, no. He felt a LOT out of place, but as Yao of Spades willingly began a conversation with him, giving him some pro-Jack tips, he, too, got happy on his own. The food was delicious as always, Andersen was begging people for a bite and usually got one, the old table was finally used for more than two people, and Andrias caught a glimpse of Kuya marching through the door, on guard. Before he knew it, the conversation with Yao turned into a ‘our-Kings-are-real- dumbasses-sometimes’ complaining, and that was a topic Andrias could add to. 

The afternoon stretched, and all the work began taking a toll on Andrias. He was growing more and more tired, his eyelids became heavier, until he barely managed to stay awake with the sheer force of will. When a yawn escaped him, Mathias, who’s been rambling about flowers with Feliks, went over to him. 

“Are you tired?”

“Wha-? No, no, I’m-*YAAAAAWWWWWN*.” Mathias smiled comfortingly.

“If you’re tired, I can do the Garden Grand opening myself, you know. You can take a break until the ball. I’ll have dinner sent to your chamber, what do you say?”

“I can make it, I caaaaaaan,” Andrias tried vehemently to hold the next yawn back. Mathias shook his head. “Yeah, no. Come on, go rest. I’ll take care of it,” he urged. And honestly, a small rest didn’t sound too bad to Andrias now. Just for a short while... I deserve it, don’t I? 

“Oh, and take this!” Mathias bent down to scoop something’s in his arms. It was Andersen, happy to be receiving attention. “Nyan,” Mathias said in a high-pitched voice as he moved Andersen’s paw. “Don’t worry, I will guard you in your sleep and chase all the nightmares away!” 

Andrias barely had the energy to chuckle. “Oh, will you, Andersen?” He petted the cat’s head.   
“Sure I will! That’s my ultimate power!”

“Uh huh,” Andrias nodded wearily. “Thanks,” he nodded, then turned to leave with the cat on his heels. The quests didn’t even notice him gone, they were quite absorbed of a game of chess Feliks and Alfred started. It looked like the Diamond King was winning. 

Once out of the room, Kuya ran up to Andrias to lead him to his room, since the boy looked like he could just fall asleep in a potted vase containing ferns that stood in the corner of the hall. “So, how was it?” asked the older boy. 

“Exhausting,” was Andrias’ half-muttered reply. Head on Kuya’s shoulder, the boy fell asleep in the middle of the staircase. Kuya chuckled, swooped him up, carried him through the hall and carefully laid him on his bed. Andersen, who followed the two, laid right next to the boy, purring in comfort, and soon drifting off as well.

<3

For the second time in one day, Emma had been the one to wake Andrias from his nap. The boy sat in the bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Andersen, who moved so his head was on Andrias’ stomach, got up as well, and stretched, but didn’t go away. 

“Good evening, Andrias. The King sends you dinner. The ball begins in an hour, so eat up, Joachim wants to pay you a visit,” Emma filled him in with her usual cheery attitude. Andrias didn’t doubt the food was delicious, but he just couldn’t focus on it, his mind too preoccupied with excitement. Having only heard of royal balls in fairytales and folk stories, he wasn’t sure to expect, but then again, if his friends were there, he was sure it’d be fun. 

But when Joachim entered, carrying something even redder than what Andrias had been wearing so far, Andrias’ mood had dropped a bit, since Oh my god, that’s so red it’s like blood with tulip petals... or something. I’m no poet. 

“Young Sir, I present you a very special coat.”

“Hi, Joachim... what’s so special about it?”

“Since we needed so little of the fabric, thanks to your rather small constitution, we got it on sale,” Joachim chuckled. 

Thirty minutes later, when Joachim deemed him ball-worthy, Andrias left his room with Andersen in tow. “Oh, hey, Andersen. I didn’t see you still there,” Andrias said. “I slept well, so thanks,” he added, lifting the cat when he began rubbing on Andrias’ legs. Andersen rubbed his head on Andrias’ shoulder and purred upon receiving petting. Andrias took pride in the fact that only he and Mathias could do this and not be scratched.   
“Hey, Andrias,” Kuya stepped from behind a corner. “Shall we?” 

“Have fun, okay?” Kuya advised when the two -three with Andersen- reached the ballroom. “Alright, here we go,” the older boy knocked on the massive door and fled. Andrias took a gulp of air, and the door... 

didn’t open. Instead, there was a confused servant, bowing to Andrias and apologizing. “So sorry, Sir, but don’t you know you and His Majesty enter from the balcony?”

Nope, that was new info. So Andrias stumbled after the servant, with Andersen still in his arms, up some stairs and to the right, where a significantly more narrow door with the letter J written into a red heart -the Mark of Jacks- awaited. The servant bowed again and opened it. 

A bright light of thousand of candles and colourful clothing blinded the boy for a moment. Then Andersen jumped off his arms, and headed down a few stairs to the large balcony, where his owner was already waiting. Andrias followed, focused on the grey cat and ignoring the large ass crown of all nobles in the kingdom who want to meet their Jack. No pressure though... heheh...

“Andrias!” Mathias greeted, and most of the room suddenly fell silent. Mathias extended his right hand. “Come on, come see your people,” whispered a voice in Andrias’ mind. So he took the hand, and Mathias raised his arm high, for everyone to see. And everyone did see.   
A wave of clapping and excited shouts would knock Andrias down if he still wasn’t holding Mathias’ hand. Speaking of which...

“Hey, your hand is sweaty,” Andrias mumbled, and somehow Mathias had heard him and laughed. “No seriously, it’s getting weird now.”

“Okay,” Mathias retracted their hands. “Sorry.” 

Andrias fake-gasped in annoyance, which made Mathias grin even more. 

“Well then! LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!”

Where’s the food, where’s the food, I need to find the food, ran through Andrias’ mind as he mingled with the crowd, trying to escape Queen Amelia’s cheek squishing and all the ladies telling him how cute he was while they suffocated him with their breasts. This party... sure has a lot of people. 

After meeting with the most important nobles, Andrias had cowardly ran off, feeling so small and insignificant, standing there, a ten-year-old on a royal ball. And yes, he knew Mathias would beg to differ, but he couldn’t be seen over the thick curtain of bodies. 

Suddenly, Andrias got the strange feeling of being watched, so he spun around to find Lord Olson’s steel grey eyes burning into him. Seriously, what’s up with this guy? “L-Lord Olson, would you happen to know where-“

“Where His Majesty is?” the Lord replied monotonely and pointed on a mass of bodies to the left. Andrias followed the direction of his finger with his gaze and made eye contact with Mathias, fakely laughing to a joke of some lady standing close. In fact, too close. 

Help, Mathias’ eyes said. 

And Andrias did.

Or, well, tried to, anyway. Because as soon as he took one step, he stumbled and fell to the ground unceremoniously. A quiet ‘crack’ could be heard and it made Andrias want to gag. When he lifted his head, blood from his nose spilled down his face to his coat -Joachim is gonna flip, hehe- and Lord Olson was gone. 

“ANDRIAS! Are you all right?!”

“What happened?”

“Is that the Jack?”

“Did he fall?” 

The boy looked up to see Mathias, a lone oasis in a desert, looking at him with concern and worry written all over his face. “Are you okay?”

Andrias nodded, but only made more blood spill. Mathias pulled put a large pristine white tissue with his monograms, and stuffed it into Andrias’ nosetrils. “That should help. Breathe through your mouth for a while, okay? Come on,” he got up, “We’re going to the doctor’s,” he grabbed Andrias and put him on his feet, dragging him away from the curious crowd. “You people have fun like nothing’s happening! Don’t worry about us!” Mathias yelled, feigning cheerfullness as he led Andrias out. 

“Mat... I’m really sorry,” Andrias apologized when they were alone. 

“Huh?” the King stopped in his tracks. “What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything.”

“Well, I ruined your birthday party. I didn’t look where I was going, and this happened. Also, Joachim is probably going to kill me.”

“Andri, it’s fine. I’ll have another birthday next year, won’t I? And this kind of thing just happens. If you could’ve seen me when I was your age...” Mathias replied, and this time, his smile was genuine. “But yeah, Joachim’s gonna be mad.” Andrias looked at him, wondering if he’s serious, and smiled back upon realising he is. 

“Do you think I could hide in your room until Joachim has calmed down?” he joked.

“Sure, why not. But first we gotta do something about the blood,” Mathias agreed. 

“Would it even be visible on red clothes though?” Andrias wondered, and Mathias burst out laughing, and Andrias burst out laughing, and, for a moment, everything was all right with the world.


	3. The King

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, this chapter sure was a challenge. But we finally start with the real shit! Mweheheheh *spins in my chair ominously, rubbing hands* Lot of sauce in this one

Snow. The coldness of it against her too-hot cheek as she falls in it, face-first. God, she’s tired. Tired and drained, as always. She mutes out the screams and shouts all around her. She’s heard enough of them already. Why can’t they just stop?! Why can’t _he_ make them stop?! Oh, that’s right. She’s supposed to be with him. She picks herself up on her knees, looking around for him. She should be able to find him in a matter of seconds, so she concentrates, focused hard, and almost there- but then, something else pulls at her. A tug, a physical one, turns her attention toward a burning house near her, clearly belonging to the head of the village. There’s nobody at the entrance - but when she turns around a corner, a scene unfolds before her. 

“HEY!” she roars, taking off to intervene, her blood-red cloak -and it might as well be red from all the blood, the cloak might as well have been crisp white in the beginning- flapping behind her. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” she shouts and swings her sword.

<3

“Andrias,” Emma said as she slowly shook the Jack awake, the same as each and every day for the last five years. “Wakie wakie!”

“Hnnn,” the fifteen-year-old yawned. “Good morning.”

“Good morning indeed,” she nods.

“Something good happened?” 

“Oh nothing,” she smiled. “Just Sir Erland, you know, Lady Manon’s nephew, right-“

“Right,” Andrias nodded, already lost. 

“Well, he‘s been going around claiming he’s found the Queen. Lord Rosenberg made an appointment with him today after breakfast.”

“And they believe him?” Andrias raised an eyebrow, sceptical. “After seven years, he suddenly turns up with the Queen? Wasn’t the capital the first thing they searched? Wouldn’t anyone with the Mark in the capital turn up immedietally?” 

“Well, wouldn’t it be nice? Mathias would certainly be elated.” Andrias’ stomach churned uncomfortably. “Does he know?” 

“I don’t think so, no,” Emma shook her head. “Not until it’s proven.” 

“So that means I have to prove or disapprove it,” Andrias said, more to himself. In the past five years, there have been some cases of fake Queens, and Andrias was the one who took care of them almost everytime, after he found out it was making Mathias sad and tired to turn every single of them away, becoming more and more desperate. Though he could turn them away more efficiently, claiming he knows it’s not them, because there’s no ‘spark’. “I’m supposed to know it’s them at first glance, you know, Andri? Our eyes are supposed to meet, and we would just know.” Mathias was such a hopeless romantic sometimes. It was both cute and heartbreaking at the same time. 

Andrias sighed as he dressed. He just hoped his friend’s already damaged heart won’t be hurt any further. That’s all he wanted, for his friend to finally find his destined one, and live with them, happily ever after or some shit like that. He sighed as he entered the dining room, seeing the King already there. He put on a genuine small smile of good morning and sat down. 

“Good morning, Andri!”

“Good morning to you too.”

“What’s the plan for today?” Andrias rolled his eyes. Ever since Lord Rosenberg claimed Andrias to be ‘properly trained’ a few months ago, Mathias kept asking for a daily plan. 

“Well, you have to meet with a Spades’ ambassador, and decide the matters about giving them back the land of Snowland your father annexed. I will have a history lesson with Lord Rosenberg, then will have to look onto the palace’s expenses, and propose a tax plan.” 

“Aww, you work so hard!” Mathias grinned, then his grin fell. “Another annexed territory, huh?” he sighed. “And just last week I had to give Diamonds back the land around the Eastern swamps. But I don’t want to let Snowland go!” he pouted. 

“Why? There is nothing of big importance there, just a few scattered tribes and snow and ice. Oh, and the most fascinating fauna, of course.” Snowland was coincidentally where Kuya’s origins came from. 

“It was annexed on my birthday, you know?”

“Oh? An interesting birthday present indeed,” Andrias sipped his tea. “What else did you get that year?” Mathias lifted Andersen on his lap in reply. 

“This guy,” he petted the cat’s head. 

“Well I don’t know how about you, but I’d like a pet more than some vast land up north,” Andrias said.

“Who said I like Snowland more than Andersen?” Mathias asked, now scratching under his pet’s chin. Andrias chuckled. Maybe he’s too worried. Maybe both Mathias and the Kingdom can wait just a little longer. 

After breakfast Andrias made his way to the parlour where they usually met with the guests. There was Lord Rosenberg, but nobody else. Andrias hmph-ed in his mind. He disliked people who thought they had all the time in the world for themselves. He sat down next to his teacher grumpily. 

“Well, while we’re waiting,” the Lord began speaking “why not make use of the time and do a little quiz? We’re supposed to have a history lesson later, correct, Sir Andrias? So tell me about King Ragnar’s last battle,” he ordered. 

King Ragnar’s last battle... Andrias drew in a breath as he recalled what he’d read and what Lord Rosenberg’s told him.

“It was against the so-called ‘magic wielders’ of a small village in the north-west. King Ragnar wanted to make sure there was no force stronger than the Kingdom of Hearts in the world. The Hearts’ army ended up victorious, completely erasing the village from the world, but at what cost? King Ragnar, who survived far more dangerous situations, was fought and killed by a village chief, and killed the chief in return. That’s why the general opinion is that magic was involved, even though we can’t say for sure. Because how else would you kill a King of Hearts?“

Lord Rosenberg nodded. “Good, good. Ah,” he put a hand to his ear, “here they come!” 

As if on cue, servants opened the door, revealing young man and woman. The man couldn’t be much older than Kuya -who turned 19 not long ago- or Mathias with his 22 years of life, but he’s not emitting a friendly, calming aura to Andrias like they do. Quite the opposite, with his sly smirk and elaborately tailored coat, he looked like he thought the world belonged to him, so arrogant and proud. The lady with him wasn’t much better. She was very pretty, don’t get Andrias wrong, but her obnoxious giggling and winking, though a bit confused as to why are these two here and where’s the King she’s supposed to seduce, didn’t make her much better. What’s more, her movements were unsure, as if she’s never worn a dress as pretty as she’s wearing now. Andrias sighed. _You decided to make a killing using your favourite bedmate, huh, Sir Erland?_

“Welcome to the Royal palace. My name is Lord Rosenb-“

“Where’s the King?” the young Sir interrupted rudely. “We’re supposed to meet the King, to approve of his Queen,” he pointed at the girl, who stopped winking and hid her face behind a fan. Andrias gritted his teeth and stood up.

“With all due respect, Sir,” he said with the most authority in his voice he could muster “You will meet the King only, and only if I, the Jack of Hearts, find your ‘Queen’ to be true.”

The Sir looked taken aback, then the arrogant smirk was back on his face. “Ah, forgive me, Your Highness,” he apologized in a honeyed tone “I got much too excited, for that I apologize. Allow me to introduce this lovely lady, who I had the luck of meeting, and finding out she is, in fact, our new Queen!” Andrias raised an eyebrow, and so did Lord Rosenberg. The girl giggled some more. “Show them your Mark, darling,” the Sir encouraged her, and she did so, pushing her already too low cleavage down to reveal a red heart with the letter Q on her breast. Andrias frowned. Well this was one of the better false Marks, indeed. But that still didn’t hide the fact that it’s fake, and he’ll prove it. 

“Would you mind if I-?” he asked, wiggling his fingers for a bit, making his intentions clear. The Sir merely laughed and the girl giggled some more.

“Of course not, do as you please,” the Sir chuckled. 

_I don’t get paid enough for this, but then again, I don’t really get paid at all,_ Andrias thought as he reached for the lady’s chest and lightly pressed his palm on the Mark.

Nothing happened.

The lady just stared him, confused. “Is something supposed to happen?” she asked in such an accent that clearly started she’s of even lower origins than Andrias expected. 

He put his hand away and wiped it on his pants. “Well, yes, something was supposed to happen. But nothing did,” Andrias narrowed his eyes. “So I have to ask you to kindly leave the palace and not to bother us again,” he turned his back just as the Sir started yelling. “But SHE’S THE QUEEN! She IS!” he screamed, grabbing the girl by her arm roughly. “I demand another test!” 

“There is none,” Andrias replied calmly. “You didn’t pass, so I suggest you take this ‘lady’ back to where you found her, and leave before I have to call the guards.” On cue, the two guards standing by the parlour door made a move of unsheathing their weapons. The Sir made a low growl, fuming, but knowing better than to pick a fight in the palace. “We’re going,” he spat and took of, dragging the poor girl behind him. 

When they were gone, Andrias released a breath he didn’t even notice he was holding. Lord Rosenberg looked at him with kindness in his eyes, and patted his back. 

“God, how I hate this,” Andrias shook his head. “These people should all just-“

“There there,” Lord Rosenberg said soothingly. Andrias closed his eyes, but opened them abruptly upon hearing a familiar voice. “Hej! I heard the Queen’s been found...” Mathias began quietly, hopefully, but the words dies on his tongue when he saw the Jack’s expression. His own face changed from a hopeful grin to a sad, understanding frown, and he nodded. “Oh. Fake again?”

“Yeah,” Andrias said. “I’m so sorry this keeps happening.” 

When Andrias said this for the first, second, third time, Mathias had replied “It’s not your fault!” But by now the King just turned and walked away. 

_Or perhaps I was wrong_ , Andrias thought, _and we can’t do it alone much longer._

<3

Afternoon found Andrias in the library, studying the reign of King Ragnar once again. He was slowly becoming an expert, studying it just because of the uncomfortable feeling he was having each time he looked into those unfanthomable painted blue eyes. He wanted to know what was behind it, why that happened to him but nobody else, but so far he hadn’t found any clue. 

Born as a middle-class nobleman, quite wild in his youth, Ragnar took the throne in his early 30s after the previous King drowned at sea. (The Jack, Reinhard, had already been a Court member when that happened.) Soon, the old Queen followed her spouse, dying of a broken heart -that’s what the official record said, anyway- and a new one was found relatively quickly, a beautiful young thing who fell for Ragnar’s charms immedietally, and he for hers. They got married and had a son, and soon after that, the wars for new territories began, continuing basically through all of Prince Mathias’ life, all the way to his 15th birthday. Due to that, Ragnar wasn’t home often, but when he was, he preferred to spend time with his family, and was apparently a good father, according to Mathias. Yes, he had been absent for long periods of time, dumping all the political duties on his Jack, but he loved them all. And, most of all, he loved his kingdom, for which he claimed the land. So it’s no wonder he became as popular as he did among the people. And his Queen was loved just as well, having made sure her people were fed and faring well. Only the Jack had always been in the two monarchs’ shadow, choosing to spend more time in his study, signing papers and proposing deals, than on balls and parties the Queen organised whenever there was a message of victory from her husband on the battlefield.

And that’s pretty much it. Nothing suspicious, really, nothing far too bad. Ragnar was loved by the people to this day, so it wouldn’t be the best idea to go around asking commoners about his bad side. No, this Andrias had to figure out for his own, he just didn’t know where to start. By now, he’s already used all of the sources available, asking Mathias and all the servants old enough to know the previous King for stories about him. He even asked Lord Rosenberg, the royal teacher since Mathias’ five years of age and Queen Dagmar’s trusted advisor, and didn’t get anything bad, anything to go by. He sighed in frustration as the book he’d chosen to search in said basically the same thing as his textbook. Andrias groaned and closed it. It seemed there was nothing wrong with the previous King, nothing standing out too much. Just a guy who liked claiming lands and loved his family. 

But then why, oh why, did Andrias always feel this dark surge of fear, disdain and hatred when someone mentioned him? Even now, as he was resting his head on the desk, the name written in the book sent shivers down his spine. As well as the strangest of urges to protect...something? But wha-

Suddenly, the door creaked open and Andrias turned his head sharply, but relaxed upon seeing a pair of familiar dark eyes.

“Kuya,” he greeted “come in.”

Kuya, no longer the messenger boy, but a full-time guard for over a year now, did as told and came to see what’s the Jack been up to in his rare free time.

“King Ragnar again?” 

“Yes,” Andrias replied, rubbing his eyes. “I just can’t shake off the feeling... something’s wrong and I have to make it right,” he voiced his feelings, these strange urges. “I just have to figure out what it is.” 

Andrias had shared the reasons of his search with Kuya before, unable to keep it for himself but too scared to tell anyone else. _Heck, if I told Mathias, he might get angry with me for spreading rumours about his dead father. And I don’t want that, I want to keep being friends,_ that was ten-year-old Andrias’ way of thinking. Rationally, he knew now that Mathias wouldn’t jump to conclusions and listen to his explanation, but that was the problem: he didn’t have any. So it’s better off as just his problem that he doesen’t want to worry his already stressed friend over. 

“And do you have any clue yet?” Kuya asked, already knowing the answer. 

“No,” Andrias shook his head. “Not yet. There must be something I’m missing, something...” _Something worth protecting._

Kuya shook his head fondly, then closed the book right in front of Andrias’ nose. The Jack yelped and glared at the guard playfully. Kuya just smiled and shrugged. “You royals and your studies,” he mocked. “When was the last time you were outside?”

“Just yesterday, for your information!” Andrias pouted. Kuya feigned shock. 

“Go out right now!” he began pulling his friend out of the chair and up to stand, and succeeding, thanks to his unfairly-more-muscly-than-Andrias constitution. “Fresh air is waiting!”

“Wha- Kuyaaaa!” Andrias laughed. 

“No, for real. Mathias wants to talk to you,” the guard suddenly became serious. Over the course of five years, Kuya and Mathias had bonded over taking care of Andrias, eventually becoming friends, so Kuya was allowed to call the King by his name. It was quite the like-hate relationship, but the two could trust each other with the important stuff, and thanks to Mathias, Kuya was promoted to a full-fledged royal guard a bit before the standard age of 18. And in exchange, he still serves as a messenger boy sometimes. 

“Is it important?” 

Kuya shrugged. “Dunno. I didn’t ask. But he did seem more serious than usual.”

Oh no, that’s not a good sign. Andrias thanked his friend and took off, racing to the small garden clearing where Mathias took him the very first time and which has become a spot for the trio of friends to meet when their scarce free time allowed. The path to it was almost fully covered in the bit overgrown plants’ tendrils, but the more intimate and secure it felt. This time, Andrias’ coat only got stuck in a blackberry bush once until he reached his friend. 

“Mathias?”

The King was slouching, holding out a piece of paper with the Spades’ symbols on it. He was looking contemplative, but imedietally lit up when he saw his friend.

“Hej, Andrias! Guess what?” he waved the paper around.

“What?” Andrias asked, sitting down on the edge of the old, unused fountain in the middle of the place. 

“You won’t even guess?”

“Okay... hmm, Spades’ symbols, huh? Did Alfred get married or something?” he joked, knowing full well that’s not it.

“Hey, that’s really close, actually!” Mathias exclaimed. Andrias nearly fell off the fountain edge. “W-what?!”

“Well, do you remember how Queen Amelia died tragically?” That Andrias did. About a year ago, she went out of the palace and wondered the streets of her beloved kingdom in disguise. There, an accident happened when a scared horse almost killed a young man, but she jumped in front of him and got hit and died instead. The heroine once more. It was a truly admirable way to die, protecting her citizens. It fit her. The young man she’d protected -Andrias recalled his name begins with a D. Da-David? Something like that- became a personal guard of King Alfred, and it was a big mourning, albeit a short one, since Amelia wrote in her will she wanted her people to not mourn for her and enjoy life while they can, and that she wished Alfred good luck in finding his new Queen. Truly a legend. 

“Yes, what about it?”

“Well, apparently, Alfred had found his Queen. He’s a grumpy guy named Arthur who used to be a captain of the Spades’ Navy. But he’s got a soft side, too, Alfred writes. And they’re so in love!” Mathias gushed, but there was a tiny, almost unnoticeable, sliver of sadness in his tone as well. 

“They’ve found him rather quickly,” Andrias coughed. “Does he write how that happened?”

“Oh, apparently his crew found out when he took off his shirt.”

“Ah. Of course,” Andrias said, not really knowing what else could he say. Mathias, determined not to create awkward silence, talked on. 

“We were supposed to talk about Snowland, but the ambassador gave me this invitation instead!”

“Invitation to... what?” 

“To the Queen’s coronation, of course!” This time, Andrias did fall off.

“O-Oh, sure...,” he stuttered as he tried to get up, but was stuck in such awkward position that he couldn’t move his arm. Mathias laughed and offered a helping hand. _Right. Coronations. I haven’t told you about those, have I?_

_When a King or a Queen are found, after certain amount of time, in which they learn their place and all about their duties, they have a coronation, and it’s a big occasion to which all of the other Courts are invited. Jacks have no such thing, that’s why my presentation to the public was made at Mathias’ birthday. And after all, the job of a Jack is the hardest of the three, if I say so myself, so our learning can take years while in the other two cases it’s a question of like, half a year. Sure, they’ll still need to grow accustomed to their new position and have classes sometime, but that’s why like, about 70 percent, if not more of the Kings are nobility in origin, so they know what to expect and aren’t new to things. Both Mathias and Alfred were originally Princes, and Berwald’s from a noble family. Feliks had actually been a commoner, but the Diamond kingdom has the highest rate of commoners becoming royalty of the Four kingdoms due to their connection to earth work and farming, so that’s not too surprising._

_With the Queens and Jacks it varies more, but it usually altogether has some sense of harmony and representation of all. Even King Ragnar was born into middle-class, though to a very noble family who just so happened to not have as much money as the other ones. Queen Dagmar had originally been a poor working girl, while their Jack had been a nobleman since birth. And it worked. Or this - the current Club Court: Berwald born a nobleman while his Queen was born a peasant, the lowest of the low, poorest of the poor, and their Jack used to be a working middle-class man. And how great it works._

_Well, I’m not going to tell you all of the current Court’s origins, I think this was just about enough for you to get the idea. The Court must be balanced out in order to understand the needs of all the people._

_Well, if we take my being a poor fisherman’s son and Mathias’ royal origins, we could assume the Queen will be from the middle-class, but nobody can say that for sure until we meet them._

“The coronation, right... When is it?” Andrias tried to cover his slip. 

“It’s in two weeks,” Mathias read, then looked up. “I’m so happy for Alfred!!” he cheered, grinning like a madman. 

“Y-yeah... good for him,” Andrias agreed, but with a small sting of jealousy. And as he looked over to Mathias, he could say he wasn’t the only jealous one. 

<3 

During the five years of Andrias’ Jackassery, um, Jacking- darn it! being a Jack, he noticed he was gradually being given more and more paperwork, and not just about the palace. Lord Rosenberg explained that it’s such work that must be done by a member of the Court, and usually done by the Queen, but in a situation like this, it was split between the Jack and the King. It wasn’t so complicated at first, but it soon would come to be, since communicating with the governors about each of the twelve Hearts’ regions was a lot of work, including making plans for each separately and a that took a LOT of correspondence. (Andrias also established trade with the archipelago in the meantime. His fellow villagers can’t say he hasn’t done anything to help them now.)

Mathias got off easy, Andrias used to think, seeing the King cheerful as always, but when he came to notice the difference between his fake and genuine smiles, he came to realise his assumption couldn’t be more wrong. And as the periods between the genuine smiles grew longer, and more and more of Mathias’ smiles had been the fake ones, Andrias tried to help. He did his best, truly, but there was just something burning inside Mathias that friendship could not quench. It could help, but only momentarily. And Andrias was at a loss as to what to do. 

Recently, the work had piled up even more, so now Andrias really did spend more time in his study than outside, Kuya was right to tease him about it. _But what can I do? This work must be done, and I’m trying. I’m doing my best, each and every day, but does somebody ever thank me? Oh hell no, they just put more paperwork on my desk. And stare at me like “are you giving up yet?”, in Lord Olson’s case. That’s their thanks._

Andrias, with Kuya’s help, somehow managed to have a walk here and there, or to go to some noble family’s tea party from time to time, and of course, attend the King’s yearly birthday party, that was still the one day everyone could drop their duties and just enjoy themselves. Kuya was not only a guard of his physical well-being, but also his mental one, and Andrias couldn’t be more thankful. Together, the two boys tried to do the same with Mathias, and sometimes it worked and they had a good time, but sometimes it failed utterly and made Andrias feel like shit. Sweet palace life? Forget about that! The life here was work, work and more work! And the years went by...

So you can’t blame Andrias for being both excited and a little jealous when it came to Alfred’s success. He was happy for him, he truly was, but at the sametu she thought it was a little unfair. _We’ve been waiting for our Queen for seven years now! And you only like, not even one! Where’s the justice in that?! That’s right, there isn’t!_

Two weeks went by, and soon it was time to depart for Spades, where hopefully the two Royals could have a good time and see what the new Queen of Spades is like. The path went through the countryside, and offered both of them some time to think.Usually, on occasions like this, they talked. Or, better yet, Mathias talked and Andrias listened courteously, adding his commentary here and there. Mathias could go on about anything, it seemed, from the passing scenery to his memories as a child -quite mischievous, that’s for sure- to various folk legends and myths and fairytales he’s heard. Today, however, he only shortly monologued about how happy he is for Alfred, and fell silent. Andrias, feeling uncomfortable, asked him about a subject that’s been nagging his mind for some time now. 

“Say, Mathias...”

“Hm?” his friend glanced at him. 

“What would you do if you fell in love with someone other than the Queen?” Mathias’ eyes widened at that, and he stuttered to reply indignantly. 

“I wouldn’t! That’s never going to happen!”

Andrias sighed. Just how could he be so sure? “Alright, but what if? In a hypotetical situation. Just try to imagine if you did, what would you do then?”

Mathias pouted. Always so quick-tempered. “I... don’t know. But, as I said, it’ll never happen, so it’s nothing to worry about,” he grinned. Fake.

“Okay, I’ll ask differently. What makes you so sure you two will fall in love?” 

“Well, we are the kingdom of Hearts,” Mathias replied, “you know, with the highest rate of their royals in love.” Andrias knew that, of course he did. He was getting nowhere. “My parents were in love. My mother always missed my father terribly when he went to battle, anxious about his well-being.”

“And why do you think you’ll be the same? That proves nothing!”

“You know... my parents also thought of their Jack as their closest friend,” Mathias pointed out. “And that did come true,” he smiled, genuine this time. Andrias chuckled dryly, deciding to drop the unpleasant subject... for now. 

“Hey Andri, have I ever told you how me and Alfred tried summoning when we were little?”

“Huh? No, do tell! What did you summon?”

They didn’t talk about royal duties for the rest of the ride.

<3

The whole kingdom of Spades seemed... brighter. Happier. And bluer, thanks to the people decorating their houses with their national colour. People waved at the carriage and hollered in the streets. It was truly a magnificent sight. Change could be heard in their hopeful voices, could be seen in the streets and breathed in the air. 

At the palace, Alfred didn’t run towards them yelling “‘SUP, DUDES!” as he always did before. No, this time he didn’t even greet them himself. As the two Hearts’ royals gave the Spade servant questioning looks, he greeted them and explained just why that is.

“The King is currently in his study, preparing materials,” he said as he ledthem to their rooms. “He shall greet you in person later.” Andrias and Mathias shared a disbelieving look.

“It’s so weird,” Mathias confessed when they were alone. “he’s always greeted me himself. We’ve known each other since we were little kids!”

“Love changes people,” Andrias mused. Mathias gave him a look, but said nothing. 

A few minutes later Andrias’ bladder decided it needed emptying, and so the Jack left of the guest room, heading to the hallway and to the right. (Mathias was on a search for Berwald, so he could annoy him, eventually getting kicked out of his rooms. That seemed to be the case everytime the two were under the same roof. Bickering like small children, it was a source of amusement to both Tino and Andrias. Only when both parties began being unnecessearily violent the two broke it apart. But mostly it was fun, seeing these sides of the two men. And still they remained great friends. How, nobody knows. But the Club Court was surely welcomed in the land of Hearts, and it was the same the other way around.)

Suddenly a door slammed open right before him and a confusedly-looking man walked out. He turned his head, spotted Andrias, and froze. 

The first thing Andrias noticed about him were his huge caterpillar-like eyebrows under a mop of shaggy blonde hair. He frowned, his green eyes sharp, then coughed. 

“Pardon me, young Sir,” he said in an accent Andrias came to know was from the eastern seaside part of the Spades’ kingdom. “But would you perhaps know how to get to the King’s Study?” he asked, very polite.

“Further down the hall, up the stairs and to left,” Andrias recalled from the few times he’s been there with Mathias. The man bowed his head in silent thanks and left. Huh. Well this person is someone Andrias didn’t remember ever meeting before, and he’ssure he would have remembered those eyebrows. He would think more about it if it weren’t for his bladder having enough, and he rushed to empty it.

He didn’t think about the stranger until lunch, when all the Courts were to be formally presented to the new Queen of Spades. The dilligent Court of Clubs was the first one there, which wasn’t at all a unusual sight, but the sight of the royal couple kissing surely was. Upon coming in and seeing it, the two Hearts’ royals’ brains shut themselves down for a moment, just long enough for Eduard to cough loudly and the Club King and Queen to notice the intruders and jump away from one another like the other was a sudden flame. 

“H-h-h-hi, M-Mat, Andrias,” Queen Tino greeted them nervously while King Berwald just glared really intimidatingly. This time, Andrias wasn’t convinced he didn’t have any murderous intent. There was an awkward silence, until it was broken by the ever so talkative Hearts’ King.

“Eeeeeeeeewwww,” he said. Berwald glared some more. Andrias facepalmed. Tino squeaked and hid his face in his hands. Eduard learned closer to Mathias and said smugly -Andrias didn’t know Eduard was capable of such a tone- “You’re just saying that because you’re jealous you don’t have a Queen of your own yet.” 

A shocked silence followed his words, one that Andrias broke without words, using the method he mastered as a short child - he kicked the Clubs’ Jack in the kneecap. Eduard groaned and fell to his knees. 

The awkward situation was resolved by the Court of Diamonds entering loudly. Feliks stopped his chatting with his Queen, narrowed his eyes upon sensing the uncomfortable athmosphere and spoke.

“Like, what kinda thing happened here??”

“Are you sure you want to know?” Andrias half-whispered. “Because I don’t think you do.”

“What? Were Tino and Berwald getting it on or something?” the Diamond King asked, making the already-red Tino blush even harder. “I’m totally right, aren’t I?”

“Well, partially, yes...” Andrias replied. 

“Hey, why is Eduard on the floor?” 

Andrias coughed. 

Luckily he didn’t have to answer that, since that’s when Alfred made an entrance just as loud as the Diamond Court, except from the other side of the room, not paying any mind to the drama before him. 

“YO, DUDES!” he yelled, and Yao could be heard signing for what was probably four thousand years. “Uh,” he coughed, “sorry. You know why is it I summoned you all here today?”

“Because you’ve finally got laid?” Feliks guessed, whispering. Tolys snorted.

“You literally sent invites where you wrote everything,” Andrias rolled his eyes teasingly. 

“I summoned you all here so you could greet a new member of the Four Courts,” Alfred continued, undisturbed, visibly elated. “I’m pleased to tell you that a new Queen of Spades has been found,” he paused at that, smiled a smile brighter than the sun and said “and he’s really amazing. Meet Queen Arthur of Spades!” 

At that, a man came from the same door the King had. There was a moment of silence as everyone took the sight before them in. Then...

“Are those caterpillars on his face?” Feliks whispered. Tolys elbowed his King in the ribs, replying “Don’t be disrespectful!”

It was the same man Andrias had met before! Well, this is... something. 

Arthur turned out to be a pretty nice guy, when he wasn’t frowning so hard his eyebrows knit themselves into a one giant unibrow. He was from a low-class family, joined the Spades’ Navy and worked himself all the way to the rank of a captain, so you wouldn’t guess his origins to be as poor as they were. Andrias thought of him as an excellent match for Alfred, who‘s gaze didn’t leave Arthur’s face once. Oh, the sweet boy, wearing his heart on his sleeve like this. But, Andrias thought, Mathias would’ve been the same, wouldn’t he? He glanced at his friend. And regretted that, because Mathias’ smile was fake, but the pain in his eyes weren’t. Andrias quickly looked away, putting on a forced smile of his own. 

The coronation was a success, by all means. Spades sure know how to do things with a big bang. Blue decorations everywhere, excellent food, fireworks, everything that showed how happy they are to have a new Queen, and to show him how loved he is. The Spade monarchs were obviously having a great time too, even if Arthur may have ended up a bit overwhelmed. Everyone was in a good mood and having fun. Well, everyone except two. 

Andrias glanced at the dancing couples as he went to get a drink. It was evening already, the sky outside gleaming with thousand of stars, and he was tired to the bone. Having to smile and look elated all day has worn him off, and even if he was happy for the Spades -which he was, Alfred deserved love just like everyone else- all he wanted right now was to curl up in his room with a jar of some sweets Emma baked, and be alone, not having to politely chat with people, and definitely not having to look at the pain in Mathias’ eyes as he smiled, trying to convince everyone he’s okay, perfectly fine, and succeeding. But Andrias knew. He knew Mathias was lonely, sad, and wanted to cry as he, too, observed the couples. Sure, there had been ladies who’d be more than happy to share a dance with him, but one short dance could never help. Mathias needed someone to dance with him through life, not through one short song. 

Andrias knew, yet couldn’t do anything about it. And that’s what was eating him inside. The helplessness. He emptied his glass, practically smashing it down on the table. A young Spade nobleman, whom Andrias had spoken with some time prior, stopped walking towards the Hearts’ Jack when he saw him almost crush the glass, and changed directions to head into the crowd instead. If Andrias noticed him, he’d probably think it’s a shame, since this nobleman had been nicer than the others, and also kinda handsome, but he wasn’t thinking about himself right now, he couldn’t be, not when Mathias had that look in his eyes. Andrias followed his gaze to the dancing pairs, where Berwald was gently spinning Tino, the shorter man laughing softly, where Feliks was spinning a bit uncomfortably-looking Tolys in the air, and where Alfred danced with his new Queen, who, granted, had a sharp tongue, but at the moment looked shy and uncertain instead. Looks like we’ll have a wedding soon, too, Andrias mused. 

_Oh, weddings. I haven’t explained those yet, have I? You see, when two monarchs love each other, they can marry. However, it is not a requirement for the job of a King, Queen or Jack the way a coronation or a presenting is. All Courts are different, so all of their members have a different relationship with one another. They may or may not love each other in a romantic way, think of one another as siblings or close friends or even parents, and everything in between. It’s not very common for the Court members to dislike or outright hate each other, but it has happened before, too. And the Royals can marry someone else, whomever they want, but then the person has to deal with the pressure that comes with it, so it doesen’t really happen often. But, amongst all the kingdoms, which one do you think has the highest rate of their monarchs being in love and wedded?_

_That’s right. Hearts. For fuck’s sake._

<3

_Well, that was certainly something_ , Andrias thought the next day as he groggily made his way out of the bed. Soon the visiting Courts would be leaving, Hearts as the last, since their Capital was the closest. The Jack dressed himself, ignoring the dark bags under his eyes, and tried to smooth down his hair, which refused to cooperate today. He knew he looked like shit, _but hey,_ he thought when he went to get late breakfast, _so does Mathias. Goddammit, what did we do to not deserve to have a Queen? Have we been evil in our past lives or something?_ the tired Jack sighed as he gulped down a cup of coffee to wake up properly, not noticing he’s cracked something. Mathias stayed silent through the entire meal. 

Quietly, the Courts have departed, saying their goodbyes and good luck wishes to the Spade Court. Nothing was put of the ordinary, except few people actually noticing the Hearts’ King’s bad mood. Andrias chuckled humourlessly, because _now_ they all notice. _Now, and never in the past five years. Or even seven, that’s how long the search for the Queen has been going on, hasn’t it?_

Before their departure, Berwald took Andrias aside. 

“Take care of him, okay?” he grumbled, and it took a second for Andrias to translate.

Then he nodded. “That’s what I’ve been doing,” he replied. “That’s the job of a friend, isn’t it?”

The Club King nodded, yet remained worried. “Tell me if you ever need anything.”

Andrias nodded and promised to do so, but sighed sceptically. Unless it’s a Queen of Hearts, I don’t know how you could help, Berwald. But “it’s nice of you, thank you,” Andrias said, and then their conversation was over, because Tino ran up to his King, smiling brighter than the sun. Literally, because it was quite cloudy, and by the time Andrias and Mathias reached the Hearts’ Capital, a thunderstorm had begun, soaking the city streets just as well as the Royals’ coats when they made a run for the palace door. 

“This’ll be good for the garden,” is the first thing Andrias hears Mathias say since yesterday’s congratulations. And he can’t help but chuckle, his friend following suit, and soon there are two drenched, laughing idiots right in front of the palace’s door, not paying any mind to the maids’ horror and the servants’ fluttering around with umbrellas. 

But that evening, the now washed and dressed in a warm sweater Jack of Hearts creeps out of his room into the King’s study with a plan in his mind. A plan that, if all goes well, could help him find the Queen of Hearts. 

A plan that he knows is his best shot, a plan he’d come up with the last night, when he was stumbling to his room from the party, tipsy and angry at the world. He was having trouble with keeping his balance, bumping into a wall here or there. Accidentally, he bumped into a door. And that door were the ones leading to Mathias’ room. And Andrias’ heart couldn’t not squeeze painfully upon looking at the King’s sleeping form, an expression of incredible longing on his face and tears running down his cheeks. It was then, when Andrias felt he had to do something quickly, and it was his drunk brain that came up with the idea. The absolutely crazy, dangerous idea that was the kingdom’s one last hope. 

Andrias lit up a candle. The night made the room look ominous, even though Andrias knew pretty well where what item is. He took a deep breath. Then, he placed his pointer finger on his back, where his Mark was under the clothes. He tried to calm his breathing heart, but it would not listen to him. He exhaled, and whispered

“Knock, knock.”

Silence. Goosebumps-inducing, uncomfortable silence. Andrias was just starting to think the plan won’t work, but then...

“Who’s there?” a voice from the darkness right behind him whispered back. 

Andrias inhaled sharply and turned around.

“The Jack of Hearts.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur being a former Spades Navy Captain isn’t my own idea, it’s from a USUk Cardverse story that I sadly read long ago and can’t remember neither the name or the author. So just fyi  
> The “knock, knock” also isn’t my idea, but I can’t tell you what it is yet, so you’ll have to wait til next chapter ;)


	4. The Joker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I thanked everyone for their kudos and comments yet? Please know they truly make my day :)
> 
> This chapter is pretty information-packed, so bear with me please. The next one should be shorter.

Snow. The white dots of it falling peacefully behind the window. The boy who should’ve been asleep by now watches them as they descend, sparkling against the darkness of the cold winter night. It’s peaceful, the most peace he’s ever known in his short life. Even his younger brother is sleeping soundly for once, not even the quietest of snores escaping from his cradle. He stands there, the only being awake in the house. It’s dark, but the boy’s eyes grew accustomed to it. The faint light of the moon illuminates the hill protecting the village from the east, and the stars upon it are winking. He wonders if the fairies will be out on a such beautiful night. It’s pure bliss.   
  
Until it’s not. The boy spots a burning torch on the hill, and dark shadows of people coming towards the village. Many people. He swallows a cry, and runs to his parents’ room. His little brother wakes up and wails.  
  
<3  
  
Andrias has never been allowed too much alcohol before. And that’s understandable, he was too young, and drinking too much was considered impolite. Not to mention he had a kingdom to represent. But now, at the Spades’ celebration, nobody was paying him attention, not anymore, and since he wasn’t too fond of dancing, he took up the only other thing available. Drinking.  
  
The first glass of wine he’d drowned was decent. The second was good. The third was just right. And when he tried something the servant called ‘whiskey’, he found he liked it better than the wine, and emptied a glass after a glass after a glass, until he lost count, and until his King’s depressed face blurred enough.  
  
Some time later, Andrias stumbled through the Spades’ palace to his room, which he knew the directions to, and _didn’t need any help, damn you, servants. I’m completely concious_ , he thought as he swayed to one side, and fell against a wall. _I’m not a child anymore, I can hold my liquor just fine!_ He stumbled from one side to the other, clutched his stomach and threw up. _Ah, that’s better._   
  
He considered calling maids or someone, but decided against it. The Spades can deal with it, since now they’ve got a Queen now, and everything will be all nice and sunshine and rainbows for them. A bit of puke ain’t something they can’t handle. Maybe the Alfred who’s never even picked up a broom can clean it up, Andrias chuckled darkly at his intoxicated brain’s idea. But oh, how he wished for a warm bed and solid hours of sleep now! He walked further -in the right direction, may I add- and lost his sense of balance at once, and fell through the closest door into a room.

  
The Hearts’ Jack shook his head to clear it up a little bit, and sat down on the carpet. His eyes got quickly accustomed to the very dim lighting, making out a person in the bed. Not knowing why or how’d he even get up, Andrias walked closer to the person, until he recognised the face.

  
 _Mathias_ , he sobered up a tiny bit. _But why is he_ \- he squinted to get a better look - _why is he crying?_ Sure enough, his eyes and cheeks were wet, and his expression was one of incredible pain and longing. His arms were outstretched, holding the blanket with a firm grip, as if it’d just disappear if he held it any less firmly. The sleeping King sniffled, and Andrias’ heart broke. And his brain replayed a bit of an earlier conversation...  
  
 _“Hey Andri, have I ever told you how me and Alfred tried summoning when we were little?”_  
 _“Huh? No, do tell! What did you summon?”_  
  
There, in the darkness of the night that hides all of our secrets -including who the hell threw up on the Spades’ Jack’s favourite potted plant- in a very unclear mind, a plan was born.   
  
<3  
  
“Huh? No, do tell! What did you summon?”

  
“A Joker.”

 _Ooooh_. _Wait, what?_ “A Joker? What’s that?” Andrias didn’t recall ever hearing that name before.   
  
Mathias learned forward to whisper like the two were discussing robbing the Spades’ palace rather than summonings.

  
“It’s a creature that can be both useful and disastrous, possessing strange old magic. They’re ancient, some say older than the world, and they know everything about it. They’re beings of chaos, and sure love making it and tricking people, but they can’t hurt anyone. There’s two of them, but they’re not working with one another, but also not completely against each other. See, they aren’t necessarily good, but they’re not bad either - they are the true grey zone. All court members can summon them if they want advice or answers, but it’s not so easy - even though they can’t lie, they speak in riddles and won’t give you the answers you seek for free.”

  
“Damn, Mat, that sounds like a mini horror story,” Andrias chuckled, remembering all those times when Mathias would suggest sleepovers and read scary stories til very late night or very early morning. It was fun, but the sleepless nights weren’t good for neither the King nor his Jack, so they haven’t made one in quite a long time.

  
“Well, it’s the truth!” Mathias pouted. Andrias raised his eyebrow.

  
“And you summoned them?”

  
“Yeah! Well, only one of them. But it was still scary!” the King shuddered at the memory.

  
“Oh? How did it go?”

  
“Well... summoning him was the easy part. Getting him to leave was waaay more difficult,” Mathias rubbed the back of his head as he laughed sheepishly. Andrias joined in.

  
“And how did you even summon him?”  
  
<3  
  
“Knock, knock.”

  
“Who’s there?”  
  
“The Jack of Hearts,” Andrias replied as he turned around to take a good look at the figure standing there in the shadows.  
  
“A Jack?” the creature asked, voice boyish, sounding barely older than Andrias himself. Huh. Which one of the two could this be? “Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve been summoned by a Jack. They usually stay behind and cover for the Kings and Queens,” he added. “No offense.”

  
Andrias ignored the remark and went straight to the point, squinting to get a better look at the Joker, but not being able to make out more than a pair of predatory red eyes. It was as if the creature was swallowed by the darkness.   
“Do you know where our Queen is?”

  
“Woah, woah, slow down! First things first! Why don’t we introduce ourselves?”

  
Andrias sighed impatiently. “I already told you, I’m the Jack of Hearts. The name’s Andrias. Besides, aren’t you supposed to know that, since you know everything?”

  
“Aw man, and here I am, trying to be polite,” the boy sighed, mirth apparent in his voice. “You can call me Fred, if you wanna. I don’t really care,” he said, making clear that he _does_ care.

  
“Fred?”

  
“ _Ja_ , that’s me.”

  
Andrias paused for a second. “But... I know no Fred the Joker. I know only-“

  
“Gilbert and Peter, yeah, yeah,” the boy- _Fred_ rolled his ruby eyes. “Well, you see, I’m not a Joker _yet_. I’m an apprentice.”

  
“An apprentice Joker?” Andrias tilted his head. “How curious.”

  
“Before you ask- no, this doesen’t mean I’m useless! I _can_ help you!” Fred took the defense. Andrias shook his head. “Well, since we’re done with introductions, would you show yourself? It’s just fair, don’t you think?” Red eyes widened, then squinted. And the boy stepped out of the shadows.

  
He looked barely older than Andrias, but he was slightly taller. His eyes stood out against his pale skin and light blonde hair. He was wearing glasses, and a peculiar headband with two small horns on it. His attire consisted of a shirt with a hood with a big crimson letter J on it, pants and high-knee boots, all in black. Andrias was surprised with how... normal he looked. Or, for his paleness and horn headband.

  
He tilted his head insecurely. “What?!”

  
Andrias shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts. “What? Nothing.”

  
“Oh,” the Joker said flatly. “Gut. So,” he walked over and sat on the King’s worktable, “shall we?”

  
“Right.” Andrias cleared his throat. “So, as I was asking before, I’d like you to tell me the location of the Queen of Hearts.”

  
“But you know it,” he boy teased.

  
Andrias’ mind did a double-take. “H-huh?! Do I? Explain!”

  
The Joker grinned. “Just outside the palace, in the very special section of your most precious place.”

  
_Most precious place? That was the Royal gardens! And in a special place?! That could only be the-_

  
Andrias choked on air. “The cemetery for the Hearts’ royals?!”

  
“Mmmhmmm!”

  
“But... but then there should be a new Queen!” Andrias all but pleaded.

  
The boy looked like he was enjoying the outburst so much. “Oh, you mean the Queen for this generation!” he grinned. “Sorry, I thought you meant Queens in general,” he smirked. Andrias gritted his teeth. He was beginning to understand why you can’t get a good, straightforward answer from the Jokers. “No, I obviously meant _our_ Queen.”

  
“Sorryyyy!” the Joker said, clearly not sorry at all.

  
“So, could you tell me?!”

  
Fred nodded. “Of course I could,” he agreed with a devious smile and leaned forward, now almost nose-to-nose with Andrias, “but that wouldn’t be any fun, now, would it?”

  
“What are you waiting for?!” Andrias was losing his patience quickly.

  
“Honestly,” the Joker apprentice began as he jumped off the table, “when a Hearts royal called me, I was expecting a different question.”

  
Andrias blinked. “W-what?!”

  
“Well, I mean,” Fred half-circled around Andrias, “there’s something else bothering you, isn’t there?”

  
“I-“ The Jack took a shuddering breath. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  
“Don’t you?” Fred teased darkly, his voice sending shivers down Andrias’ spine. What? What else could he be talking abo- _oh_. “You mean the thing about the previous King.”

  
“Ding ding ding!” Fred fingergunned. “We have a winner!”

  
“What do you know?” Andrias asked, voice no longer authoritative.

  
“Everything, dear Jack,” the Joker smirked cockily. “I know _everything_. But I think it’d be better for you to hear it from a certain special someone,” he whispered in the Jack’s ear, leaving no room for Andrias to argue, because at that moment he snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the two boys were not the only ones in the room.

  
“Ow!” someone yelped as they fell on the King’s table.  
  
<3  
  
“Ow!” a heavy weight fell on the table, accompanied by a bang so loud that, after the initial shock, Andrias checked the door quickly, in case someone had heard it and came to see what caused the disturbance. Luckily, nobody did, so the Jack turned his attention to the disturbance himself, and if he was surprised by the Joker’s appearance, he was absolutely disbelieving now.  
  
Because there, splayed on her back between a pile of half-finished paperwork and the quill, was a girl. A girl about twelve, thirteen years old, her blonde hair tied back with a big red ribbon. That in itself wouldn’t be so strange. The strange thing about her was her outfit.

  
She was wearing armour. And not just any kind of armour, either. It was white, red and black, with hearts all over. The Hearts’ kingdom military, though it was a bit different in its own way, Andrias couldn’t quite put a finger to it. And on the chest piece- Andrias’ mind reeled and promptly short-circuited- on the chest piece, a heart with an intricate black letter ‘A’ was shining.  
  
“Owww,” the girl repeated as she sat up, making Andrias jump back. “Who-?” she squinted at her surroundings, stopping upon seeing the Joker apprentice, and frowned.

  
“Fred? Why’re you calling me? And where the hell am I?” she asked, sounding as confused as Andrias felt.   
“Hiiii!” Fred grinned and waved at her happily. “Welcome to the Hearts’ Kings’ study room!” Her eyes widened -Andrias noticed they are a lovely shade of sky blue and very reminiscent of something- and she seemed to choke on air.

  
“W-what?! What- what’s going on here?!” she exclaimed.

  
“...that’s what I’d like to know as well,” the Jack muttered, and the girl only now noticed him standing there.

  
Looking straight on her face now, Andrias made out a -rather cute- dusting of freckles on her cheeks and nose in the faint light, as well as her hair being longer than he first thought, a curtain of gold curling down her back, the ribbon securing it tightly. And the weird thing about her hair was-

  
“Who’re you?”

  
“Huh?” the Jack looked away from her hair back to her face, but she already looked away.

  
“Who’s this, Freddy boy?”

  
“This,” Fred began, sounding slightly annoyed by the nickname, “is the current Jack of Hearts, Andrias.” Andrias didn’t know how to react, so he bowed curteously, thinking he can’t go wrong with that. But, apparently, he could, because the girl suddenly looked like she was about to throw up.

  
“W-w-w-what’s the meaning of this?!” she yelled, Andrias could only describe as hysterically, at the horned boy, who shrugged, the cocky grin back at it, plastered on his pale face. “He wanted to know, and I thought you were a better person to tell him.” Apparently, he didn’t need to elaborate on just what Andrias wanted to know.

  
The girl frowned. Then she sighed, lowering her head. When she lifted it again, there was a glow in those blue eyes of hers, and once again, she looked right at Andrias. Blue eyes bore into greenish-grey, and it felt so nostalgic, like they’ve been doing this for an eternity.   
  
“How’s Mathias?” she asked.  
  
  
 _Mathias?! Why would she- how does she even know him?! “_ I- he’s...,” Andrias struggled for words, “he’s... not good,” he admitted. “That’s why I summoned this jerk,” he nodded towards Fred, who raised an eyebrow, grin never leaving his face, “in the first place. But then he changed the subject, and now you’re here. Soo, hello, nice to meet you?”

  
The girl blinked, and laughed. She had the loud kind of laugh, the one that makes you just itch to join in on the fun, and Andrias found himself smiling, despite everything. She then finally got off the table, took a few steps towards the Jack, offered him her hand and when he took it, shook his.

  
“Hello, my name is Kristla, and I’m,” she glanced at the Joker in a ‘fuck it’ manner, “I’m the Ace of Hearts. The pleasure’s all mine.”  
  
<3  
  
Okay, so Andrias’ plan had been very vague from the beginning, he admitted that now. Summon a Joker, get him to tell Andrias about the Queen’s whereabouts, somehow, and then depart and bring them where they rightfully belong. Easy, no? As he now came to realise, stuck on stage two, it was by no means as easy as he made it seem.   
  
Andrias had been taught how to react in all kinds of situations - when someone was in danger, when talking to people of lower rank, when talking to people of higher rank, when talking to ladies and how to behave around them, how to behave when no ladies were around, how he should walk and bow and nod and so, so much more. But he was NOT taught what he should reply to someone saying there was a fourth court member, let alone introduced themselves in the way this girl- Kristla did.  
  
Out of everything he could’ve learned when summoning the Joker -who was now chilling by the world map on the wall, whistling a cheerful tune, probably having the time of his life, that bastard- this... _this_ was not what Andrias had been expecting.

  
He was so lost he almost didn’t even register Kristla waving her hand around his face until she put a finger to his forehead and poked him. “Andrias? You okay, man? I understand it’s really sudden and all, but you have to believe me... please, please believe me,” she pleaded, voice shy.

  
Andrias didn’t really see a reason to believe a girl he’d just met like five minutes ago, yet his instincts, the same ones that found the presence of the current Hearts’ King comforting before Andrias had even spoken to him, and the ones who yelled in alarm every time he looked at the previous King’s portrait, were telling him to trust this girl, that she’s important and precious and a friend.   
  
Andrias took a deep breath. Kristla’s frown only deepened nervously, until the Jack breathed out and nodded. “I believe you.”

  
She looked at him, face clearing up and hopeful, with a smile breaking out. “You do?”

  
“Yes, but I do demand an explanation.” She nodded. “Sure, sure. Freddy boy, wanna help me out?”

  
Ruby eyes looked up from where they were squinting at the world map thoughtfully. “Sure,” he shrugged, disappearing, only to appear standing on the King’s table an eyeblink later.   
“So, let me tell you a story.”  
  
<3  
  
Long ago, when the Four kingdoms weren’t kingdoms yet, only places where nature ruled and survival was reserved for the strongest among creatures, the wolves found themselves on top of the food chain of the forest now known as the Hearts’ kingdom. Thanks to their teeth, claws and, most importantly, family bonds, they came to be feared as the strongest among beasts. They ruled the forest, keeping balance between all the other beasts for many years. And then, something changed.  
  
Humans, in those times, were unsignificant little creatures, considered the weakest in the forest. They lived in small family circles, never getting much in touch with the other humans in the area, and keeping themselves out of everyone’s business so that they wouldn’t be hunt down. It was a hard time of struggling and fighting for the right to live. You wouldn’t say it now, but humankind really was weak like that back then. And then, a human destined to change history forever was born.   
  
Odin -future King of Hearts, Odin the First- was born half-blind, but with a strange mark surrounding his bad eye. A mark of a red heart with the letter ‘K’ (though, obviously, they didn’t recognize it as such. Survival was more important than learning to write with the alphabet we use today. That came much later.)

  
Thanks to this, he was considered the black sheep of the family, and always got the worst of everything, everyone thinking he’d die soon. But, to his family’s surprise, he didn’t.

  
One time, when he was old enough to carry a weapon, yet not old enough to join an actual hunt, he was playing with a friend, some say his brother, some say his cousin, that’s unimportant. Important thing is, it was his relative. They were playing hunt, and the boy pretended to be a deer Odin had to shoot down with a branch. However, they underrestimated both Odin’s strenght and the branch’s sharpness, which led to the brother’s death. Murdered by his own kin. Saddened, Odin buried him and left his family as a punishment for himself, awaiting a death of his own.

  
He wandered the forest aimlessly, and, not noticing nor caring, crossed a border of another family’s territory. There, he stumbled upon a bathing girl, who had the same mark as he did, only with a letter ‘Q’. He thought it was a sign from the Universe, approached her, and soon they’ve fallen in love and Odin was allowed to join Frigga’s -that was the girl’s name- family.

  
Some time into their living together, they’ve been attacked by a wolf, or, actually, a human raised by the wolves, who, to their extreme surprise and joy, bore the same mark as they did, only with the letter ‘J’. He was a cunning creature named Loki, who took time to convince to change sides, but when he did, he became the most valuable ally. Odin knew they were destined to do something great, something world-changing, and was right. About the time, he grew homesick, and so decided to look for his family only to find all of them slaughtered by the wolves. Furious, he planned to end the wolves’ rule, with the help of Frigga’s family. He knew he needed people, a lot of people, if he was to stand a chance against their claws and fangs, and so, with the help of his court, travelled the forest and persuaded the families he met to become his allies against the wolves. With the help of beautiful Frigga and clever Loki, he managed to form an army. And so, the war began.

  
Many people and many wolves were lost, but the first ever court lived on, fought on. And the people were beginning to have the upper hand, thanks to Odin’s persistence, Frigga’s bravery and Loki’s tactics. The end of the era was nearing.

  
During the very last battle, Odin was fighting the alpha wolf, the biggest and most ferocious beast. It was a long and tiring battle, and the human felt his strenght seeping out. He was knocked over by the wolf, but as soon as the beast lowered its jaw to deal the final blow, Odin saw a great light, and before him, his dead brother stood, looking no different from when he was alive. The brother took the wolf’s blow himself. The impact of it killed the alpha wolf, and so, the war was finally won, and a brand new era has begun.  
  
<3  
  
Fred finished his story, red eyes daring Andrias to say he’s wrong, when Andrias knew full well Jokers can tease and mock and fool around all they want, but if there is one thing they cannot do, it’s to lie. And even if he didn’t happen to know that fact, the story itself would convince him. It was practically the same story Lord Rosenberg had told him on his second lesson, the same story written in all history books. With the exception of the dead brother -Ace- of course, but other than that...

  
“If you don’t believe him, ask his dad, he’s seen it with his own two eyes,” Kristla intervened a while of no reply from the Jack later, pointing to the Joker apprentice, whose expression morphed into a look of betrayal.

  
“...his dad?” Andrias finally said.

  
“Yep,” she nodded. “Gilbert the Joker.”

  
“I didn’t know Jokers could have children,” Andrias wondered out loud. Kristla shrugged. “Well, they usually can’t, but-“

  
“Alright, alright, enough,” Fred waved his hands in the air to gather back control of the situation. “We don’t need to discuss my family situation right now.”

  
A grin bloomed on Kristla’s face, but she didn’t press. Instead, she turned to Andrias. “So now you know. About us Aces, I mean.”

  
 _Hold up_ \- “Us?”

  
“Of course, it wouldn’t be very balanced if only one kingdom had an Ace, would it?” Kristla grinned further. “There’s one for each, the same way Kings, Queens or Jacks are. Me for Hearts,” she took Andrias’ hand and pressed his pointer finger lightly, “Anezhka for Diamonds,” she pressed his middle finger, “Marek for Clubs,” ring finger “and Matthew for Spades,” and his little finger. Her hand was surprisingly warm.

  
“And you’re all-“ Andrias began, frowning.

  
“Dead?” she asked with a chuckle. “Well, yes, to some extent. We’re kinda in between being dead and being alive, I’d say.”  
Andrias’ brain was frying by this point. “Explain..?”

  
She let go of his hand and leaned against a wall.   
  
“You see, we Aces aren’t born with a Mark the way you others are. In fact, our Marks aren’t even on our skin,” she tapped her chest piece. “And we’re not changing as fast as you are - a new Ace for each generation, no no. Usually, it’s one Ace for about three, four generations, if not more. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The important thing is,” she leaned forward to whisper her next words, “We’re not born, we’re made.”

  
A single shiver ran down Andrias’ spine.

  
“You’re made... by being killed,” Andrias said, all the pieces clicking together in his mind. Kristla’s grin only grew darker.

  
“I see you’re a bright one, Andrias of Hearts.”   
  
<3  
  
 _There’s a dried splotch of ink,_ Andrias realised as he absentmindedly scratched at the surface of the table. _Mathias really should be more careful with it, he thought._

  
“You good, Andrias?” the girl, the Ace of Hearts, called, standing near the world map to his left.

  
“I.. I need some space,” Andrias had said a few minutes ago, moving over to sit by Mathias’ table, trying to process all the new information that’s been thrown at him during the past twenty minutes.

  
The palace was still silent, peaceful and sleeping, and it calmed Andrias down by a lot. The darkness behind a window said it was still too late or too early to be up, not a single bird call could be heard yet. Andrias knew it was going to be a long night, but if he knew... if he had known he would learn something like this, he’d prepare it better, he’d brace himself. He breathed in, then out, counting to ten in his mind to calm down, the way his father taught him.

  
“I’m... thinking.”

  
Kristla hummed, watching over the Jack like a hawk.

  
“So,” he began once he sorted his thoughts out. “What do you Aces do? What’s your role? Protect other court members? Win wars for them?”

  
The girl hummed again. “Protect, yes, sorta. More like we make sure court members don’t get themselves killed before doing whatever they were meant to do in this world. We do the Universe’s bidding, you could say.”

  
Andrias glanced at the nervously-smiling girl. “Oh,” was all he said.

  
“Are you done?” a sharp voice cut through the awkward silence. Andrias turned to the other person in the room.

  
“Done with what?”

  
“With thinking,” Fred scoffed. “With sorting it out. There’s still something we need to do, isn’t there?”

  
“Something we need to do?” Andrias asked dumbfoundely.

  
“What you’ve summoned me for!” the Joker raised his volume, clearly irritated.

  
“Oh,” Andrias said. “I called you to find the Queen for me.”

  
“Exactly! So, shall we get on with it?” he tapped his foot impatiently.

  
Andrias sighed. Mere half an hour ago, the Queen had been his top priority, and he was ready to accept any plan, no matter how crazy, but now... Now he felt like laying his head in between Mathias’ paperwork and the ink splotch and sleeping for days. _I was always tired, he realised, but now I’m fucking exhausted._ He never worded this, though.

  
“Why do you care?” he asked the Joker instead. Fred stuttered, losing his mysterious composture once more.   
  
“I- Because I-“

  
“He’s been watching you and he became invested,” Kristla replied for him. “Number one Joker mistake,” she added with a grin, and Fred shot her a nasty look, but didn’t argue.

  
“Oh,” Andrias said again. He didn’t really feel like pressuring or questioning further, so he only looked at the two and stood up. “Let’s do it,” he agreed, and a smile tugged at his lips. “Let’s make Mathias happy.”  
  
<3  
  
Three heads came to bump on one another as the three people held each other’s shoulders. (Andrias didn’t know just how they came to do this, but it was nice. He felt like a member of some underground anarchistic group.)

  
“Alright, so here’s the plan!” Andrias said determinedly.

  
“You already have a plan?” the Ace asked. The Jack shook his head. While it was true he did have one, it was... vague at best.

“Well, I-“

  
“He doesen’t,” Fred deadpanned. “And even if he did, he’d need to know where the Queen is first.”

Andrias raised an eyebrow. “Then, as I’ve asked you at least four times by now, could you maybe tell me?” Fred smirked.   
Red eyes glanced up at the map on the wall of the Jack’s study room. It was a fairly new one, with all the land the previous King has gained, stretching east, a bit to the west, where Andrias’ gaze lingered a bit longer as he remembered the fishy smell of his hometown, but most of the new land had been to the north from the centre of the Hearts’ empire.

  
The boy dressed in black picked up a dart from a drawer -only Mathias knows what he has it there for-, stepped back, closed his eyes and focused. In his mind he saw a cottage, surrounded by deep forest, untouched by empires, be it Hearts and Spades or Diamonds and Clubs. Strange magic lingered in these woods, and a person much too careless could easily find themselves in a mythical beings’ trap. But there were people, too. Two, to be exact. A young boy in a brown cloak, skipping around the cottage with a small bird on his shoulder, and...

  
_And the Queen of Hearts._

  
The Joker, keeping his eyes closed and mind focused, lifted his arm and threw the dart.

  
“There!” he exclaimed as it hit the map on the northern Hearts’ teritorry, far from the capital, where nothing was marked or written but ‘haunted forest’.

  
Andrias gulped. Kristla frowned.

  
“There ya go,” the Joker-to-be pointed. “There’s your Queen. I’ll take my leave now. Good luck with them!” he bowed, walked back into a shadow and disappeared, the dart on the wall the only evidence of his presence.   
  
Andrias looked at Kristla right in the moment she looked at him. And there it was again - Andrias’ instincts telling him to hug this girl and keep her close. He compromised with them by holding out his hand.

  
“I don’t really know how you Aces are supposed to work, but I’d be happy if you joined me on this journey.”  
She smiled, and took it.

  
Normal people wouldn’t notice anything special about a such a trivial thing as a smile, but Andrias, with his five-year experience, did.

  
 _Fake_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way to summon the Jokers rightfully belongs to PurrV, it’s from their story ‘Exceptis Centum’, which, by the way, I totally recommend, it’s the best Cardverse I’ve ever read. 
> 
> Me, taking liberties with the Old Norse mythology: Loki is Mowgli... hehehehe
> 
> Sooo... what do you think? ;) Let me know your theories, I live for them! Also, the shipping and romance will come, please be patient u.u


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